Libby struggles with air quality
by Duane Williams, KLCB 1230 AM Libby News Radio
January 27, 2009
The good news: Libby is making the numbers in compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) clean air standards.
The bad news: Libby is still in non-attainment. That is because attainment is an average along a time line. Libby has not moved far enough along the continuum from the last non-compliance to establish an average for attainment.
Is Libby' air quality better? Yes, it is. Is the community making positive progress because of the woodstove change-out program? Yes, it is.
At Thursday's meeting with the Department of Environmental Health, Department of Environmental Quality, and the University of Montana, a definite "us" and "them" mentality and attitude oozed out of the atmosphere.
Libby residents want assurances they will be able to stay warm during winter inversions, the rules will not change again, as they did when the EPA reduced the particulate matter count from PM10 to PM2.5, and the EPA will not eventually take away wood burning heat sources, even cleaner burning types like pellet stoves, in the future.
Those assurances were not forthcoming from the agencies.
The major contributing factor to Libby's wood smoke pollution is weather, specifically the lack of wind to ventilate the valley. With Libby’s very stable atmosphere, small particulate pollution, such as PM2.5 settles and gets trapped when a temperature inversion occurs.
Kathy Hooper of Lincoln County's Department of Environmental Health told residents concerned about power failures during air quality alerts she will not enforce a wood stove ban during an air quality alert with prolonged power outage. "We want you to stay warm", she told the standing-room-only 100-plus person, mostly senior citizen, audience.
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Story by Duane Williams, KLCB 1230 AM Libby News Radio, www.todaysbestcountryonline.
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