In May 2015, the Air District’s Board of Directors approved $14 million in funding for programs that promote and accelerate plug-in electric vehicle, or PEV, usage in the Bay Area.

With more than 5.5 million passenger vehicles in the region, tailpipe emissions account for more than 40 percent of the criteria air pollutants and about 36 percent of the greenhouse gases, or GHGs, generated in the Bay Area. The Air District sees PEVs as a promising and essential technology for reducing tailpipe emissions and meeting our local, state and federal criteria pollutant standards and GHG emission reduction targets.

Since 2010, the Air District has awarded nearly $6 million from its Transportation Fund for Clean Air to PEV-related projects. This has resulted in the installation of more than 200 publicly accessible Level 2 chargers, 1,400 Level 2 residential chargers and the adoption of more than 100 PEVs by local public agency fleets.

The additional $14 million in TFCA funds will be available for the following programs:

• Charge!: This program is currently open and supports deployment of PEV chargers at workplaces, multi-dwelling units, transportation corridors and at key publicly accessible destinations.
• PEVs for Public Agencies: This program is currently open for local government agencies that purchase or lease new clean air vehicles such as light-duty PEVs, neighborhood electric vehicles and electric motorcycles.
• PEVs: This program is scheduled to open later in 2015 for operators of light-duty vehicle fleets and heavy-duty vehicles and buses that purchase clean air vehicles.

In 2013, the Air District worked with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Association of Bay Area Governments and other stakeholders to develop the Bay Area Plug-in Electric Vehicle Readiness Plan, which outlines regional strategies and best practices to remove barriers and accelerate PEV deployment. Through this planning process, the Air District established Bay Area PEV adoption goals of 110,000 PEVs by 2020 and 247,000 PEVs by 2025.

As of March 31, 2015, there were more than 50,000 model year 2010 and newer PEVs registered to Bay Area drivers. This represents nearly 40 percent of the PEVs registered in California and approximately 1 percent of the Bay Area’s total fleet.

The Air District also supports regional education and outreach efforts through sponsorship of the Bay Area PEV Coordinating Council, the Experience Electric ride and drives, and participation in local and state PEV workgroups.

For more information contact us by email at grants@baaqmd.gov or visit us online at www.baaqmd.gov/grant-funding.

The Air District has opened registration for the 2015 Great Race for Clean Air, a competition among Bay Area employers to see which company has the most clean air friendly Bay Area commuters.

The Great Race encourages employees to commute via transit, carpooling, vanpooling, walking and bicycling – anything other than driving alone to work - in order to reduce air pollution in our region.

During the 2014 Great Race for Clean Air, employees at participating Bay Area companies saved approximately 773,225 pounds of carbon dioxide and about 1,000 pounds of smog forming pollutants by not driving alone to work. This is equivalent to taking more than 73 cars off the road for an entire year. Efforts such as these help reduce smog in the Bay Area and relieve gridlock on our roads.

The Great Race runs from September 1 through October 31, 2015. Employers can register now to join. Once companies are registered they will receive a welcome packet that includes posters and a series of email messages that they can use to promote the Great Race for Clean Air. Starting September 1, employees can track their commute trips and measure CO2 savings using 511 Rideshare's online Trip Diary.

The Great Race for Clean Air is conducted in partnership with

511 Rideshare, Commute.org, 511 Contra Costa, the San Francisco Department of the Environment and Solano-Napa Commuter Information.

All participating employees will be eligible for weekly prize drawings for gift cards.

Companies can win in the following categories:

• Highest average of “clean commute days” logged by participating employees
• Highest CO2 savings overall
• Highest employee participation rate (minimum 5 percent participation threshold)

Company participation awards are given in five size categories:

• Mini companies with 1-25 employees
• Small companies with 26-100 employees
• Mid-size companies with 101-500 employees
• Large companies with 501-1,000 employees
• XL companies with 1,001 or more employees

Individuals can win in the following categories (one winner per participating county):

• Highest number of “clean commute days”
• Highest CO2 savings

Winning companies will be recognized at a local Board of Supervisors meeting or at another event of their choosing. Every participating employer receives a certificate of participation.

A complete list of 2014 Great Race for Clean Air winners is available on the Spare the Air website.

In June, the Air District rolled out a fully redesigned website (www.baaqmd.gov) to improve accessibility of information and enhance the agency’s overall quality of service to the public, scientific community and regulated businesses in the region. The new website features a streamlined, 21st century look-and-feel, a more user-friendly structure and provides additional mapping features for enhanced display of air-quality-related data and information.

During The Air District’s Public Participation Plan process, recommendations were made for increasing the Air District’s visibility in the community and providing residents with easier access to the agency through an improved website.

The updated website boasts a more responsive visual design, easier navigation, and condensed and consolidated content. It features improved language translation support, as well as a series of interactive maps displaying air quality and open burn forecasts, real-time and historical air quality data, and locations of permitted facilities and communities identified as heavily impacted by air pollution.

The Air District plans additional improvements in coming years, including expanded translation of content into Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Tagalog. Further enhancements will include expanded public notifications for permit applications, improved visualization of air monitoring data and additional data added to the interactive maps.

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In June, Valero Refining Company agreed to pay the Air District a $122,500 civil penalty to settle air quality violations at its refinery in Benicia. The settlement covers 25 notices of violation that the Air District issued to Valero for incidents that occurred in 2011.

The violation notices included one for a public nuisance caused by odors from operations at the refinery wastewater treatment plant, 14 for brief violations of emission limits as measured by monitors on refinery equipment, some for minor leaks from pentane or butane tanks and minor administrative violations.

The Air District issues notices of violation to inform facilities that they have violated a specific air quality regulation or rule. Violators are required to respond to the notice within 10 days and submit a description of the actions they will take to correct the problem.

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The Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s Board of Directors approved the allocation of $20 million dollars to help fund the electrification of the Caltrain corridor.

Transitioning to electric-powered trains will result in zero emissions locally and the ability to increase service. Caltrain currently serves more than 61,000 weekday riders between San Francisco and San Jose, and is projected to reach 100,000 weekday riders by 2040.

Exposure to diesel exhaust can irritate the eyes, nose, throat and lungs, and cause coughs, headaches, and nausea. Because fine particles bypass the respiratory system's natural defenses they also aggravate chronic respiratory symptoms, and may contribute to more serious health impacts.

Key benefits associated with electrifying the 51 miles of rail line between San Francisco and San Jose also include a reduction of greenhouse gases, increased frequency and speed of train service, reduced engine noise, and reduced traffic congestion from automobiles along US 101 and interstate 280.

The total project cost is estimated to be $1.53 billion and will be supported through a combination of local, regional, state and federal sources. The Air District allocation of $5 million per year over the next four years is being funded through the Mobile Source Incentive Fund, which is collected from a $2 fee on motor vehicles registered in the Bay Area.

This project is a continuation of the Air District’s effort to support zero-emissions technologies in the Bay Area. Recent projects have included funding for the installation of shore power at the ports of Oakland and San Francisco, electric vehicles and infrastructure, electric airport equipment, electric lawnmowers, and hydrogen fueling stations.

Caltrain expects to start operating the electric trains by the winter of 2020. Switching to electrified track will reduce diesel fuel consumption by existing trains by approximately 3.4 million gallons, and 500 tons of associated particulates per year. After full implementation, total emissions will be reduced by over 97 percent.

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To accelerate the development of publicly accessible hydrogen re-fueling stations, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District today approved $2.2 million in funding for the completion of 12 new hydrogen stations in the Bay Area. All 12 hydrogen re-fueling cell stations are scheduled to be in service by early 2016.

The adoption of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and other zero emission vehicle technologies will assist in meeting local and state air quality policy objectives, including reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions and cutting petroleum use. The total emission reduction expected over the next three years alone by using hydrogen technology is projected to be 5.28 tons.

Commercial sales of hydrogen vehicles are just beginning and the installation of the necessary infrastructure for this new vehicle technology has begun in cities across California. The 12 hydrogen re-fueling stations will be installed in strategic locations across the region.

Bay Area commuters who use hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will soon have access to the 12 strategically located hydrogen re-fueling stations across the region in 2016.

Hydrogen Re-Fueling Stations scheduled for the Bay Area:

• Berkeley
• Campbell
• Foster City
• Hayward
• Los Altos
• Mill Valley
• Mountain View
• Oakland
• Redwood City
• San Jose (N. 1st)
• San Jose (N. 4th)
• San Ramon
• Saratoga
• South San Francisco

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The Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s Board of Directors approved more than $2.6 million in Carl Moyer Program grant funds to install cleaner engines at nine Bay Area businesses to help reduce air emissions.

Collectively, these projects will provide emission reductions of smog-forming compounds in the Bay Area, including reductions in nitrogen oxides, reactive organic gases and particulate matter. Emission savings are projected to be over 12 tons annually.

• A commercial fishing vessel from Sonoma County received more than $136,000 to replace a 35-year-old diesel powered marine propulsion engine. The new engine will reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides by more than 1.2 tons annually.
• Global Mushrooms, a mushroom farm based in Santa Clara County received more than $117,000 to replace a 16-year-old diesel powered loader with a new model that is the cleanest model available.
• The Richmond Pacific Rail Corporation received $760,000 for the replacement of a diesel powered locomotive. This is the first switcher locomotive in the nation designed and built to meet US EPA Tier 4 emission standards, reducing exhaust emissions by more than 90 percent.
• Southwest Airlines at Oakland International Airport has received more than $150,000 to replace six diesel-powered aircraft tugs with zero-emission electric units. This equipment is used to tow passenger aircraft on the airfield.

Other projects funded by Air District grants include agricultural diesel equipment in Sonoma and Napa counties.

Approximately $10 million in new grant funding for similar projects will become available later this summer. Visit http://www.baaqmd.gov/grant-funding/funding-sources for more information.

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Carl Moyer Program - Funding is available to upgrade or replace diesel engines and equipment, including trucks, off-road equipment, marine engines, locomotives and agricultural equipment. www.baaqmd.gov/Moyer

Voucher Incentive Program - Funding is available for diesel truck replacements and retrofits. www.baaqmd.gov/VIP

Lower-Emission School Bus Program - Funding is available for school bus retrofits, public school CNG tank replacements and public school bus replacements. www.baaqmd.gov/LESBP

Plug-in Electric Vehicle Rebate Program for Public Agencies - Funding is available to public agencies that purchase or lease zero- and partial zero-emissions light-duty cars, neighborhood electric vehicles and motorcycles. Applications will be accepted through December 18, 2015, unless funds are exhausted earlier.  www.baaqmd.gov/grant-funding/public-agencies/pev-rebate

Charge! - Funding is available for the installation of Direct Current Fast, Level 2, and Level 1 electric vehicle charging stations at Bay Area transportation corridors, workplaces, multi-dwelling units and trip destination locations. Both public and non-public entities are eligible to apply for funding. Applications will be accepted through December 18, 2015, unless funds are exhausted earlier. www.baaqmd.gov/charge

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August

Sunday Streets Excelsior - San Francisco
August 16

September

Millbrae Art & Wine Festival - Millbrae
September 5-6

Mountain View Art & Wine Festival - Mountain View
September 12-13

Sunday Streets Western Addition - San Francisco
September 13

Love Our Lake Day - Oakland
September 20

October

Monument Impact Carnival of Health - Concord
October 3

Ashland/Cherryland FamFest - San Leandro
October 10

6th Annual Day on the Bay Festival - Alviso
October 11

Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival -Half Moon Bay
October 17-18

Sunday Streets Mission - San Francisco
October 18

Sunday Streets Berkeley - Berkeley
October 18

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