County, state don't agree on dust-control plan
By AMY MAY
The Daily Inter Lake
It's been five months since Flathead County was fined for poor air-quality standards, yet the county and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality have yet to come to an agreement on how to fix the problem.
Letters continue to be exchanged between the county and the state agency, but no solution has been reached.
"They keep throwing stuff back at us," Flathead County Administrator Mike Pence said of the correspondence. "A one-on-one discussion is sometimes more fruitful."
In January, the county was fined $29,000 by DEQ for failing to take "reasonable precautions to control emissions of airborne particulate matter" on gravel roads.
To resolve the issue, Flathead County administrators created a draft "road dust action plan" and timeline of how the issue might be mitigated.
The plan, submitted in March, included three phases of long- and short-term solutions for the air-quality problem.
According to Planning Director Jeff Harris, the plan's short-term solutions were speed limits and vehicle weight restrictions. The long-term solutions dealt with completing a study of the problematic roads in the county and eventually using its findings to create a more efficient road system.
The plan was rejected by DEQ in May. A letter addressed to county administrators stated, "The Plan lacks any indication of how the County intends to reduce airborne particulate matter from county roads."
The county's response was one of confusion. "We really don't understand what they need," Harris said. "I don't know that they understand the plan we sent in."
The biggest complaint DEQ pointed out in its letter was that the action plan lacked any concrete examples of how the county plans to mitigate dust.
Pence and Commissioner Joe Brenneman disagreed with that particular complaint in a letter addressing DEQ's response to the plan, saying, "We respectfully to not understand how you can say our 'plan lacks any indication…' and then proceed to list several items that we specifically committed to do in the plan. The draft plan we submitted did list many items to address dust issues."
In Pence and Brenneman's June 12 letter to Larry Alheim Jr., the environment enforcement specialist at DEQ, it was noted that paving every dusty road simply was not an option for Flathead County.
With most rural residents paying an average of $75 yearly to road maintenance, paving each road isn't in the budget, according to Pence.
The letter to DEQ addressed the issue of paving by saying, "If we are expected to accomplish goals or tasks that we do not have the financial means to address, we may find ourselves in an impossible and no-win situation."
Pence has said he is disappointed with the way the road plan has been handled and that he had hoped the two agencies could work together to reach a solution.
According to the June 12 letter, the second draft of the Road Dust Action Plan will include several new components. There will be a schedule as to when the county will implement actions such as speed limits and vehicle weight restrictions. The county will also purchase four rollers to compact gravel which are expected to reduce dust levels. The county will also consider assigning Animal Control wardens to assist in the enforcement of dust control resolutions.
The county commissioners also have approved the creation of a County Road citizen advisory committee. The committee will oversee issues dealing with dust control, maintenance needs and polarization and overall road maintenance and improvement plans.
The county requested an extension from the state to create a more complete plan. The new plan is due in Helena on July 8.
Reporter Amy May can be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at amay@dailyinterlake.com