
South Coast Air Quality Management District, CIC panel discuss proposed Rule 1151 amendments and industry impact
By onCollision Repair
The South Coast Air Quality Management District provided information to collision repairers during a Collision Industry Conference meeting presentation on its progress in adopting Rule 1151 changes.
The district’s draft proposal of amendments would phase out the use of solvents tert-butyl acetate (t-BAC) and para-chlorobenzotrifuloride (pCBtF) in paint manufacturing.
The proposed changes to Rule 1151 would apply to all motor vehicle and mobile equipment non-assembly line coating operations and would require product reformulations. It would establish volatile organic compound (VOC) content limits for coatings as well as coating application restrictions and recordkeeping requirements.
The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has deemed the solvents as potential carcinogens, according to the AQMD.
The Rule 1151 draft amendments development process took about a year and included four working group meetings, one workshop, 40 manufacturer meetings, and six site visits, according to South Coast AQMD Planning and Rules Manager Heather Farr.
Clean air quality is a dire issue in the district and residents are exposed to t-BAC and pCBtF from 3,000 automotive body shops in the district, Farr said.
During a panel discussion that included Farr, 3M Global Industry Relations Leader Jason Scharton, said personal protective equipment (PPE) that protects against the chemicals have been available for two decades.
“It is not just respiratory protection, it’s skin protection so making sure we’re using our paint suits and our gloves, eye protection — all of that — if we’re properly using our PPE, then we’re covered the way we need to be,” he said.
Panelist Gene Lopez, a repairer within the district and Seidner’s Collision Centers development and training director, noted that within 20 minutes of skin exposure, the chemicals will show up in urinalysis.
Because of the availability of proper PPE, Farr said the district’s focus is working to protect residents from the toxicity of the chemicals.
“We’re really worried about those offsite risks so that’s what we look at, and the distance to that nearest home,” she said.
South Coast AQMD introduced a new type of VOC limit within its Rule 1151 amendments that are reactivity-based versus mass-based.
“Our current limits now when you think of a limit, like 300 grams per liter, is a mass-based VOC limit,” Farr said. “All solvents are treated the same even though some of them will create more ozone than others… Maximum incremental reactivity, or MIR, limits assign a reactivity so it gives formulators a little bit more flexibility to formulate. It can be the same mass-based level but it would actually produce less ozone… Even if it’s 100% VOC, it can still form less ozone.”
Farr added that the district is meeting with other local air quality agencies in California to attempt VOC limits uniformity.
Panelist Jeff Wildman, BASF automotive aftermarket industry, added that BASF tries to standardize its products as much as possible to develop products that are safe for everyone but also aims to focus on research and development that meet local standards and could be available elsewhere in the future.
What would be ideal, he said, is a national standard so R&D costs could be spread out more, like what Europe is working on accomplishing now. However, it’s a very complicated process for manufacturers to make sure the right products go to the right distributors and districts per differing regulations, according to Wildman.
Wildman also said BASF can’t necessarily sell European products in the U.S. because some VOC limits are higher there and some chemicals that are allowed there aren’t allowed here.
As for increased costs that repairers could face, Heather said SQAMD did consider costs for manufacturers but hasn’t evaluated costs specifically for the marketplace and repairers.
During Phase I of the phase-out plan, affected facilities will be allowed to use coatings formulated to meet the less stringent U.S. National Rule Limits, which do not utilize pCBtF or t-BAc in their formulations and are, therefore, less expensive, the AQMD wrote in its draft socioeconomic impact assessment of the proposed amendments.
AQMD staff wrote in a report released earlier this month that the alternative VOC content limits for color coatings is intended to address solvent-based coatings use by smaller autobody shops. Shops will be given additional time to make the transition to water-based alternatives, until Jan. 1, 2030, the report says.
Lopez said the clear coats and solvents that Seidner’s currently uses have been available for nearly 20 years but the equipment isn’t.
“Painters will have to relearn, so to speak, how to use the higher VOC limit [products],” he said. “2030 isn’t far away and the technology that will be used then isn’t available today, and so we have to begin to question that.”
Farr concluded, “We really are going to go VOC rule by VOC rule, category by category, to find a pathway to get out of these toxic-exempt solvents. We might not take the same approach. We likely won’t increase VOC limits the way we did for 1151. Some of the other rules, while you might have some shops here and there in communities, it’s not like the 3,000 shops that are right in our neighborhoods so we did take a very aggressive approach for 1151. We’re going to see with the other rules; it could differ. We’re having conversations with manufacturers and stakeholders. We have several that are in process.”
Images
Featured image: (From left) Jason Scharton, 3M global industry relations leader; Heather Farr, South Coast AQMD planning and rules manager; Gene Lopez, Seidner’s Collision Centers development and training director; and Jeff Wildman, BASF automotive aftermarket industry speak during a Jan. 22, 2025 CIC panel in Palm Springs, California. (Lurah Lowery/Repairer Driven News)