The Committee of 100 | FYI Archives

Nicholas DiPasquale, Secretary, DNREC, and Anne Canby, Secretary, DelDOT, have convened an Air Quality Mobile Source Committee to help the State make some hard decisions regarding its serious air quality problem which is threatening Delaware's conformance under the terms of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA). There are serious consequences to any lapse in meeting conformance requirements.

The CAAA designates regions of non-attainment for 6 air pollutants that pose health risks and environmental threats. New Castle and Kent Counties are designated Severe Nonattainment for Ozone; Sussex was originally not listed, but, because of declining air quality, has since been designated Marginal Nonattainment. Ozone precursors are Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC). Severe designation requires attainment of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) by 2005. The CAAA require State Improvement Plans (SIP) that include a 1990 Base Year Inventory; 1996, 1999, 2002, and 2005 Rate of Progress Plans; and a 2005 Attainment Plan.

The SIPs are divided into Point, Area, and Mobile (On- and Off-Road) Sources, each of which has a budget. Transportation conformity must be demonstrated to the EPA against the current On-Road Mobile Source Budget every three years (96, 99, 02, 05) or when the Long Range Transportation Plan and the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) are amended with regionally-significant projects (e.g., the AstraZeneca 141/202 project, the Tyler McConnell Bridge, Churchman's Crossing, or the Route 40 improvements), or within 18 months of a new or revised SIP submittal.

Delaware's 1999 Progress Plan and WILMAPCO's 2025 Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) are in conformity for the required benchmarks: 2005, 2015, and 2025. However, changes since those plans were submitted threaten Delaware's conformity. Those changes include new, lower mobile budgets for 2002 and 2005; legislatively-required speed increases to 65 mph on SR 1; and land-use utilization projections. New Castle County will have an 1.79 ton/day NOx budget overage by 2005. New Castle County must demonstrate conformity by March 1, 2001 if it includes any regionally significant projects in its TIP; if not the date is July 21, 2001. Kent must demonstrate conformity by July 2001 and Sussex by the fall of 2001. The rapid growth and spread of population and employment and the tremendous increase in vehicle miles traveled will make it difficult for all three counties. The dearth of transit places a further burden on Kent and Sussex.

If Delaware has a Conformity Lapse, the only transportation projects which could move forward would be exempt projects (safety projects, transit replacement, planning); transportation control measures; projects that received funding commitments for construction prior to lapse; and regionally-significant 100% State-funded projects included in the first 3 years of the most recently approved TIP that require no federal funding or approval action (including permits). David Saladino of WILMAPCO listed the following projects in New Castle County that might be held up in the event of a lapse: AstraZeneca (141/202) Improvements; Tyler McConnell Bridge, Wilmington Trolley; Churchmans Road Bridge; and Transit Facilities/Vehicle Expansion. Judy Katz, Director, Air Protection Division, EPA, Region III, provided a stern warning to those attending the September 19th meeting of the Air Quality Mobile Source Committee. She warned that if Delaware does not focus on making the hard decisions that lead to reduction of NOx, the State "will be in lapse." She noted that, "the easy things have already been done" and said Delaware must decided whether we will "eliminate expansion projects or squeeze industrial sources." She cautioned that "the EPA, in the past, has been able to, by slight of hand, help Delaware get through." That is over. She noted that environmental groups have sued the EPA and won. For example, as a result of a March 1999 decision, grandfathered construction projects must now be counted if a lapse has occurred. There is now such scrutiny of the State Improvement Plans that Delaware's Plan will be carefully reviewed by the EPA.

Bob Kramer, also with the Philadelphia Office of the EPA, presented examples from Birmingham, Alabama; Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Provo, Utah where conformity lapses resulted in delayed or abandoned projects. The most notorious, of course, is Atlanta where, two years ago, the EPA moved to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in federal transportation funding and 61 projects were delayed. Within a year, the Georgia legislature empowered Governor Roy Barnes to create and enforce a regional growth management strategy which gave the Governor, via the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, the power to dictate land use as well as transportation decisions in the 13-county Atlanta metropolitan area.

If the new EPA Standards (.08 ppm over 8 hours vs. .12 ppm/1 hr) survive the Supreme Court, Delaware will have an even more difficult time meeting the conformance requirements. The Supreme Court will hear the case in November and render a decision by Spring 2001. Implementation would probably be three years later.

There are approximately 3,000 boardings a day on Septa and Amtrak at the Wilmington Train Station. Amtrak riders are high income, with an average income of $114,000. Sixty-eight percent are business travelers, with 70% of those traveling alone. Forty percent get to the station by car, 40% by taxi, 14% walk, and 6% use mass transit. As everyone in the area knows, parking is beyond capacity. Parking garages coming to the area include the Ships Tavern District parking garage, which will serve the residents and customers in the district as well as provide reserved parking for First USA; the Justice Center garage; and a Wilmington Parking Authority (WPA) garage planned for Front & Poplar. The WPA garage, which will occupy the surface parking at the Amtrak Operations Center, will provide first-level parking for the Amtrak Center and second and third level parking for the station, with a direct connection to the station platform.

2001 Small Business Week Awards

Jayne Armstrong, the Director of the Delaware District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration, has been actively reviving the Delaware SBA since she arrived last December. Under her leadership, Delaware joined the rest of the nation in celebrating the SBA's Small Business Week with an Awards dinner last Spring at the First USA Riverfront Arts Center. The 2001 Small Business Week dinner, with the theme, "The American Dream, Delaware Style" has already been scheduled for Thursday, May 3, 2001 at the Dover Sheraton.

Applications for Delaware's 2001 Small Business Week Awards are now being accepted until October 13th at Delaware's SBA office at 824 Market Street, Suite 610, Wilmington, DE 19801-2011. We have the guidelines and application in The Committee of 100 office if you would like a copy. The Awards include Small Business Person of the Year, Accountant Advocate of the Year, Entrepreneurial Success, Financial Services Advocate of the Year, Home-based Business Advocate of the Year, Minority Small Business Advocate of the Year, Small Business Exporter of the Year, SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Small Business Journalist of the Year, Veteran Small Business Advocate of the Year, and Women in Business Advocate of the Year.