|
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
WildEarth Guardians Targets Dangerously Dirty Skies in Seven Western States
EPA Called on to Clean up Particulate Pollution in 22 Areas; Coal Mines, Unchecked Development, Traffic Contributing to Unhealthy Skies
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 437-7663
Denver—WildEarth Guardians today called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to rein in dangerously high levels of particulate matter air pollution in 22 areas in seven western states, including Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming.
“Here in the west, we need the EPA to step up and rein in out of control particulate pollution,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians. “These dirty skies are not only dangerous, they’re a disturbing sign that we lack the safeguards needed to ensure everyone is protected.”
Air quality monitoring data for the 22 areas shows public health standards limiting particulate matter less than 10 microns in diameter, or 1/7th the width of a human hair, also known as PM-10, are being violated.
Breathing PM-10 can lead to a number of adverse health effects, including irritation of the airways, coughing, or difficulty breathing, decreased lung function, aggravated asthma, development of chronic bronchitis, nonfatal heart attacks; and premature death in people with heart or lung disease (see the EPA’s website).
Under the Clean Air Act, if an area violates any ambient air quality standard, the EPA is required to ensure States clean up the air pollution. Despite violating PM-10 standards, the EPA has yet to put the 22 areas on the path to clean up.
The areas violating PM-10 standards, by state, include:
- Arizona: Ajo, Rillito, Nogales, and Yuma.
- Colorado: Alamosa, Durango, Grand Junction, Lamar, and Pagosa Springs.
- Idaho: Boise.
- New Mexico: Albuquerque, Anthony, Chaparral, Deming, Las Cruces, Sunland Park.
- Oklahoma: Tulsa.
- Utah: Utah County
- Wyoming: Campbell County, Laramie, Lincoln County, and Sweetwater County.
An interactive Google Earth map showing the location of these areas and the air quality monitors can be viewed here >>
Under the Clean Air Act, if an area violates PM-10 standards, the EPA is required to designate the area as “nonattainment,” which triggers deadlines for States to clean up the air pollution and protect public health. Where an area that is already designated as “nonattainment” violates PM-10 air quality standards, the EPA must reclassify its designation as “Serious,” which imposes more stringent clean up requirements.
In this case, WildEarth Guardians called for 16 areas to be designated as “nonattainment” and for six additional areas to be reclassified as “Serious” nonattainment areas, including Ajo, AZ, Nogales, AZ, Rillito, AZ, Yuma, AZ, Anthony, NM, and Utah County, UT.
The sources of PM-10 pollution in these areas vary, but include dirt and dust blown from disturbed lands, coal mining operations, coal-fired power plants, dirt roads, traffic, and other combustion sources.
In Wyoming, for example, coal mining is the predominant cause of PM-10 violations, including in Campbell County, where the nation’s largest coal strip mines are located.
“Particulate pollution is a serious and widespread problem in the west and is invariably linked to unchecked industrial development,” said Nichols. “This is not a natural phenomenon. It’s time for clean air to come first in these areas and for the EPA to ensure that states and industry alike are curtailing this harmful pollution.”
A violation of the PM-10 standards occurs whenever the three-year average of the number of exceedances of the standards exceeds 1.0. The PM-10 standards are exceeded whenever concentrations exceed 150 micrograms/cubic meter over a 24-hour period.
WildEarth Guardians petitioned the EPA under the Administrative Procedure Act, a federal law that provides any citizen the right to petition the government to issue a rule. In this case, Guardians petitioned the EPA to issue a rule to ensure clean up of PM-10 pollution. The petition calls on the EPA to respond within 90 days.
|
|
|
