HJR 11-ADDRESS AIR POLLUTION IN FAIRBANKS  1:13:30 PM CHAIR MCKAY announced that the next order of business would be HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 11, Urging the United States Environmental Protection Agency to develop a woodstove certification program that addresses the threat to clean and healthy winter air in Fairbanks; and urging the state Department of Environmental Conservation to develop an economically and legally defensible state implementation plan for the Fairbanks North Star Borough nonattainment area. 1:14:03 PM REPRESENTATIVE WILL STAPP, Alaska State Legislature, as prime sponsor, presented HJR 11. He paraphrased the sponsor statement [included in the committee packet], which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: "Urging the Department of Environmental Conservation to develop an economically and legally defeasible state implementation plan for Fairbanks North Star Borough nonattainment area" In May 2017, the United States Environmental Protection Agency reclassified the Fairbanks North Star Borough nonattainment area from moderate to serious for particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5). The Environmental Protection Agency seems intent on turning attentions toward so-called greener sources of heat, including electric heat pumps that will not work as solutions in the Fairbanks North Star Borough HJR 11 urges the United States Environmental Protection Agency to develop a woodstove certification program that the state, Department of Environmental Conservation and residents of the Fairbanks North Star Borough nonattainment area can rely on and acknowledges the unique challenges Alaskans face in economically and technically feasible and is legally defensible. REPRESENTATIVE STAPP added a brief history of how the proposed legislation was conceived. 1:17:52 PM REPRESENTATIVE STAPP described the issue of air quality in Fairbanks specifically. Rejecting the climate mitigation program effectively creates undue hardships on the community, he said, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) related that they could not use the wood stoves they previously authorized them to use. He added that many changes would be required, and if these types of implementations move forward, it would result in a crushing effect on the town [Fairbanks, Alaska] making it economically non-viable to live in, he said. He affirmed that HJR 11 would serve to lower air pollution. 1:20:58 PM REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER asked if HJR 11 will affect the entire state or only Fairbanks. REPRESENTATIVE STAPP said he could not speak to how the EPA would handle other areas of the state. He further explained that each mitigation strategy is derived within local communities or state departments. 1:22:12 PM REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER asked Representative Stapp if he had any estimation of what the cost had been either collectively or individually for the first round of compliance, and how it could affect the second. REPRESENTATIVE STAPP explained the exponential costs on consumers and what some consumers already pay through their utility costs. He said it had already been difficult for residents to handle financially, but having to meet the standards would make Fairbanks a very unaffordable place to live. REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER asked about the confidence level and mission of the resolution. REPRESENTATIVE STAPP replied that Fairbanks had a history of dealing with "these types of situations," and he provided brief examples. He expressed his protectiveness of hi town. 1:25:04 PM REPRESENTATIVE MCCABE asked a rhetorical question about how the EPA would penalize Fairbanks if it were out of compliance. REPRESENATIVE STAPP explained that the EPA would revoke the federal highway dollars that are utilized to ensure the two highways in Fairbanks are maintained. 1:26:41 PM REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER asked how far the containment area extends. REPRESENTATIVE STAPP replied that it extends from Fairbanks to other parts of the North Star Borough and there are maps available on the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) website. 1:27:19 PM CHAIR MCKAY asked if Eielson [Air Force Base] is considered a non-attainment zone. CLIFTON COGHILL, Staff, Representative Will Stapp, Alaska State Legislature, on behalf of Representative Stapp, prime sponsor of HJR11, confirmed that Eielson Air Force Base goes past Salcha, Alaska. CHAIR MCKAY commented that he did not like the government restricting national security. 1:28:02 PM CHAIR MCKAY opened public testimony on HJR 11. After ascertaining that there was no one who wished to testify, he closed public testimony. Immediately after, he learned there was someone who wished to testify, so he re-opened public testimony. 1:29:12 PM NICK CZARNECKI, Program Manager, Air Non-Point & Mobile Sources, Division of Air Quality, Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), explained that he did not have any specific testimony but that he would be available for questions regarding the resolution. 1:29:40 PM CHAIR MCKAY closed public testimony on HJR 11. REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER asked Mr. Czarnecki for DEC's perspective of the air quality situation, and if he had any bureaucratic insights. MR. CZARNECKI replied that Fairbanks had been making some good progress, and he reiterated that this is a wood smoke issue and EPA has provided DEC with a "broken tool" to fix the problem and then penalized them by taking away federal highway funds as well as imposing other restrictions. From DEC's perspective, he said he believed there is a plan in place to get clean air for the Fairbanks area so it can thrive as a healthy community. He added that it could still be done economically by maintaining the use of wood stoves if they could get EPA to put forth a functioning certification program and approve Alaska's plan as- is without forcing additional controls and mandates to DEC's power sector. In reference to the non-attainment area, Eielson Air Force Base is not in the zone, but Fort Wainwright is, he confirmed. REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER asked how air quality in Fairbanks is sampled and tested. MR. CZARNECKI explained that EPA's national certification program for wood stoves is referring to the tests done to certify wood stoves for sale in the U.S. to show that they are clean enough, and he further explained that the tests are flawed and easily manipulated by test labs and manufacturers. The state of Alaska, along with other agencies, found that wood stove manufacturers and test labs have used the leniency in those methods to get stoves certified; they are much dirtier than what the tests say, he stated. He added that EPA is not providing the clean wood stoves that they are supposed to for this non-attainment area. 1:34:21 PM REPRESENTATIVE STAPP thanked the committee for its time and asked for support for Fairbanks. CHAIR MCKAY entertained a motion. 1:34:52 PM REPRESENTATIVE MCCABE moved to report HJR 11 out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, HJR 11 was reported out of the House Resources Standing Committee.