Learn about the Air District's development process for Regulation 11, Rule 18, which would reduce health risks from toxic emissions from existing local facilities.
Find out about the status and anticipated timeline of the rule development process. Information on hearings, workshops, and other events is provided below, along with supporting documents and materials.
The Air District is developing a new regulation to reduce health risks from toxic emissions from existing facilities. Regulation 11, Rule 18: Reduction of Risk from Air Toxic Emissions at Existing Facilities would improve air quality and reduce toxic emissions from facilities ranging in size from large-scale plants like factories and oil refineries to smaller operations like back-up generators and gas stations. The Air District estimates that hundreds of facilities throughout the Bay Area may be subject to the new rule. Rule 11-18 would rely on risk screenings and health risk assessments incorporating recently adopted risk management guidelines and health risk values from the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.
In implementing Rule 11-18, Air District staff would conduct site-specific screening analyses for all facilities that report toxic air contaminant emissions, and calculate health prioritization scores based on the amount of toxic air pollution emitted, the degree of toxicity of these pollutants, and the proximity of these facilities to local communities. For facilities found to have priority scores above a certain value, the Air District would conduct health risk assessments. Based on the health risk assessments, facilities found to have a potential health risk above the Risk Action Level would be required to reduce their risk below the Risk Action Level, or install Best Available Retrofit Control Technology for Toxics on all significant sources of toxic emissions.