12/12/1979 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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- -- -.-. ---- City Attorney Stan Long commented that this resolution would provide a fairly long-term agreement with the Oregon Seed Council. It represents the successful e ( culmination of two-and-one-half years of efforts since the Council asked staff to find a workable compromise which would serve the interests of Eugene and the interests of the seed industry. Throughout the process the City has been to court and has dealt with many administrative agencies, and much progess has been made. In anticipation of Council's approval, Mr. Long felt it was important to say, on behalf of the Field Burning Task Force, that it has been a pleasure to work with a Council who was unanimously behind the issue. It has made the City much more effective. He felt it also was important to note the contributions that Mayor Keller and Councilor Delay have made. They gave much of their time, he said, and, without their efforts, the City would not have this agreement. If approved today, there is tentatively scheduled tomorrow for formal execution of the document by Mayor Keller and the Seed Council. Staff would then try to persuade the EPA and DEQ to approve the memorandum as permanent rule changes. In its efforts, staff sought to achieve an incentive to minimize the amount and severity of intrusions of smoke into Eugene. The performance standard method includes an incentive for those managing the smoke program to have less intru- sions, as well as less severe intrusions. The performance standard approach makes acreage considerations irrelevant. It is important to recognize that most operational goals would be in place on a permanent basis. Mr. Long also reported that any economic boycott by the seed growers would probably come to an end. Also, the system includes features that ensure that field burning will not violate the Federal Air Quality Standards. A permanent program such as the one being presented provides benefits to the seed industry, ( which needs stability to do its own long-range planning. Also, the weather e and a combination of rules the last two years have caused some increases in infestations of a disease which attacks the seed crops. The performance stan- dard is a compromise offering advantages, albeit there will be some risks to both parties. Terry Smith, Environmental Analyst, pointed out some of the technical aspects of the performance standard program. He said one set of rules concerns what are called condition emissions controls, burning techniques, moisture content, etc. Also included is a new feature called the incentive system that is an elaboration on the acreage release system used in the past. The technical justification is based on the analysis of five- and ten-year-long records of smoke intrusion into the area. The performance standard is based on the assess- ment of how field burning smoke has affected this area in the past and what the dynamics are of smoke intrusions on air quality and on aesthetics. Hours of smoke are counted and it was found that certain kinds are more intense than others. A plan has been implemented in which they are able to double some of the more intense hours. In addition, Mr. Smith said that certain limits have been set on the amount of smoke hours that the area is willing to tolerate. Currently, regulations provide acres to be burned when the mixing height is above a certain level. The proposal is that the mixing height for burning will rise to 4,000 feet when accumulative hours of smoke intrusions into this ( e 12/12/79--6 bb8 .,;"...."~