County's revised road-dust plan sent to state
By AMY MAY
The Daily Inter Lake
The county's road-dust plan is on its way to state officials for approval.
The most recent draft of the Flathead County Fugitive Road Dust Action Plan was finalized Monday, barely making the Montana Department of Environment Quality's July 9 deadline, which had already once been extended.
The road-dust action plan is an attempt to mollify tensions between the county and the state after the county was fined $29,000 in February for not meeting air-quality standards. The county was fined after failing to address a number of complaints from county residents about air pollution caused by dust from gravel roads.
The draft is the county's second attempt to create a plan. A previous attempt was described by state officials as vague and insufficient.
In this draft the county tried to include specific examples and timelines of how officials will work to get rid of the dust. It includes immediate, short-term and long-term actions the county will put into effect.
Some of the immediate actions include the consideration of reducing the speed limits of all unpaved county roads with an average daily trip count of more than 150 to 35 mph.
The plan also references a section of the county's proposed subdivision regulations that soon will come before the commissioners. It states that all new subdivisions will be required to have a dust mitigation plan during and after construction.
The action plan recommends the county initiate a public-education program on dust-control issues that would include public outreach measures and periodic reports to the commissioners.
Short-term actions would be completed within one year. Solutions listed include studying the road system within the county and referencing and monitoring the "hot spots" where there are a number of dust complaints.
Predicting future road dust is part of the long-term plan. The county will work with the City-County Health Department and state to establish "specific emissions factors associated with unpaved roads."
The revised draft comes after two months of correspondence with state officials attempting to find some common ground. Representatives from the county and state plan a sit-down meeting in early August.
City-County Health Director Joe Russell said Flathead County isn't the only county dealing with these dust issues, although it's the only Montana county that's been fined for road dust.
The state's response to Flathead County's plan will be precedent-setting, Russell added.
Reporter Amy May can be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at amay@dailyinterlake.com