Mar 5, 2014

Santa Barbara Proposes Changes to its AIM Rule limits for volatile organic compounds (VOC) and Method 313

PAINT.ORG: California’s Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District (SBCAPCD) has proposed amending its Rule 323.1 for architectural and industrial maintenance (AIM) coatings limits for volatile organic compounds (VOC). Santa Barbara is the latest air district to do so; 10 other California Air Districts have developed rulemakings to adopt the California Air Resources Board (CARB) 2007 AIM Suggested Control Measure (SCM).

Santa Barbara has scheduled a public workshop for March 11, at which time the air district will discuss some of the deviations from the CARB 2007 SCM and the reasoning behind them.

On Jan. 1, California’s South Coast AQMD’s AIM VOC coatings 1113 rule went into effect — new rules for 11 categories with lower VOC limits, colorant VOC limits, and labeling requirements for small containers (e.g., date code and VOC content). Late in 2013, the San Diego Air Pollution Control District (SDAPCD) proposed its new Rule 67.01 for AIM coatings, as well as the repeal of former Rule 67.

Santa Barbara’s proposed amendments include the following:

  • Solvent cleaning limits, work practice standards, and reporting provisions, which likely overlap the current CARB Consumer Product rule (that includes paint thinner and multipurpose solvent limits) as well as the and the Santa Barbara Solvent Cleaning Rule (Rule 321), which currently exempts most AIM cleaning activities;
  • A revised definition of Reactive Penetrating Sealer Definition, based on suggestions from the California Department of Transportation;
  • Deletion of the Specialty Primer and Undercoater category; and
  • Inclusion of SCAQMD’s Method 313 test method, even as meetings are ongoing to resolve problems with Method 313.

In its proposal, Santa Barbara suggests a one-year effective date. ACA typically advocates for at least a one-year effective date to allow industry members to lock out product, inform customers, etc.

ACA’s AIM VOC Committee tracks, reviews, and comments on AIM VOC regulations on behalf of the industry. ACA offers members resources to track and comply with these rules.

ACA and its committee will be submitting comments on the proposed Santa Barbara rule amendments by the March 25 comment deadline.

More information on the Santa Barbara proposed rule is available fromhttp://www.sbcapcd.org/rules/download/323.1proj-desc-sum20140212.pdf, and information on the March 11 workshop is available athttp://www.sbcapcd.org/rules/workshops.htm.

Source: http://paint.org/news/industry-news/item/1415-santa-barbara-proposes-changes-to-its-aim-rule.html