Proposed air quality regs could impact Libby
by Brent Shrum, Kootenai Valley Record
October 21, 2010
A year after the Libby area was recognized for coming into compliance with revised federal air quality standards governing fine particulate matter, local officials are bracing for the potential adoption of even tighter standards in the near future.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee is recommending that the agency lower permissible levels of for fine particles, known as PM2.5, Lincoln County Environmental Health Department director Kathi Hooper told the county commissioners last week. What that means is that while data for the last few years shows the Libby area meeting standards, Libby could once again be in jeopardy of noncompliance if the proposed new regulations go into effect.
"We made attainment in 2009, and less than a year later they’re looking at lowering the standard," Hooper said.
The EPA advisory committee is recommending that annual PM2.5 standards be lowered from 15 micrograms per cubic meter to 13 to 11, and that daily standards be lowered from 35 to 30. In 2009, Libby’s annual PM2.5 level was 10.62, and the 24 hour level was 31. Three-year averages, which are used to determine compliance, were 12.19 annually and 31.2 daily for 2007 through 2009.
Those levels are significantly lower than numbers from 2005 and earlier. A woodstove changeout program undertaken to replace old woodstoves with new, EPA-certified clean-burning models was the primary factor in attainment of the new standards, Hooper said.
"We’ve done an amazing job to get where we are," she said.
Commissioner Tony Berget expressed frustration over the proposed new standards.
"Why do you want to attain it if they keep moving the target?" Berget said.
After all the hard work of coming into compliance, "We don’t want to go through it again," Hooper said.
"It’s amazing that your reward is that you get dropped lower," said Commissioner John Konzen.
Libby wouldn’t be the only place in the state affected by the proposed change, Hooper said.
"If they lower the standard again, there will be a dozen communities in Montana that will be in non-attainment," she said.
Commissioner Marianne Roose suggested writing a letter to Montana’s congressional delegation expressing local concerns over the proposal.
"I think they appreciate that form of correspondence, and I think it’s something we should do," Roose said.
If the proposed changes are approved, it would take several years for the new standards to go into effect, Hooper said.
"It’s not anything immediate, but if you’re going to comment on it, it’s something you should do now before it’s law," she told the commissioners.
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