Whitefish air causes county concern
The Flathead County Board of Health heard a warning Thursday that the county's air may soon violate tightened federal standards.
By CANDACE CHASE
The Daily Inter Lake
The Flathead County Board of Health heard a warning Thursday that the county's air may soon violate tightened federal standards.
County Health Officer Joe Russell discussed a memorandum from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality that called the Flathead Valley "dangerously close" to violating new air standards. It was based on readings collected from 2003 to 2005.
In a discussion with the health board, Russell pinpointed Whitefish as an area of concern in the Flathead, based on previous studies of particulate matter (PM) in the air.
"They have more combustion-related PM fines," he said.
Russell called Whitefish "a kind of little valley" that collects particulate matter from sources such as vehicle emissions, open burning and woodstoves.
"You can see how smoke sits down in the Whitefish valley," Russell said. "It's from the whole Stillwater drainage."
The monitor in Whitefish records air data from a box located since 2001 on the dead end of 10th Street.
In an interview Friday, Russell said Kalispell and Columbia Falls present more problems from coarse particles from dust from roads and construction.
The Environmental Quality memo projects violations of the new 24-hour fine-particle standard in Missoula, Libby, Hamilton and Butte. Helena and Gallatin valleys joined the Flathead in the "dangerously close" category.
State Environmental Quality officials wants to work with local agencies such as the health department to avoid designations of new "non-attainment" areas.
The department reports readings collected from 2005 to 2007 to the Environmental Protection Agency in late 2008.
The EPA currently designates Libby as a non-attainment area for exceeding the less-strict 1997 standards.
Russell said that process begins with a notification that an area is in violation.
"At that point, it sets in motion a whole process," he said.
A locally driven effort pinpoints the sources of pollution and various control strategies. Options might include vehicle inspections and stricter control of open burning and woodstoves.
Russell said wood stoves are a small part of the problem in the valley.
Once a strategy is developed, the governor petitions the EPA to include the area's plan as part of the state implementation plan.
"If we don't do it, the feds come in and do it," Russell said.
New standards revising those adopted in 1997 took affect in December.
The 24-hour fine-particle standard was slashed from 65 micrograms per cubic meter to 35 micrograms per cubic meter.
Particulate matter refers to a complex mixture of very fine particles and liquid droplets in the air.
If inhaled, the particles are linked to health problems from aggravated asthma to premature death in people with lung and heart disease.
Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.