Libby fails latest federal air quality testing

By Canda Harbaugh/Special to the Inter Lake

Libby's air quality falls below the federal 24-hour fine particle standard, according to a report released last week by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA designated Libby as a "nonattainment" area, one of 211 counties or parts of counties in the United States whose air quality violated the 24-hour fine particle federal standard from 2005-07.

A fine particle, or PM 2.5, is about 1/30th the size of an average human hair. In September 2006, the EPA tightened the 24-hour PM 2.5 standard from 65 to 35 micrograms per cubic meter.

The EPA's findings were first reviewed by state and tribal governments before being finalized and released.

During the summer, fine-particle concentrations in Libby typically averaged less than the EPA standard, but in the winter - November through February - concentrations were "well above the standard," according to the EPA.

The EPA attributed the higher concentrations in Libby to stagnant winter weather conditions, strong temperature inversions, light winds and wood-stove emissions.

Libby is in a bowl-shaped valley that lends itself to temperature inversions that can cause pollution, such as smoke from wood stoves, to get trapped close to the ground.

High concentrations of fine particles can aggravate heart and lung diseases and have been associated with a variety of serious health problems including heart attacks, chronic bronchitis and asthma.

"Over the past several years, local and state agencies have made great strides in their work with Libby citizens to reduce PM 2.5 levels," said Carol Rushin, EPA Region 8's acting regional administrator.

"Unfortunately, for the time period reviewed, those measures have not been enough to bring air pollution levels in Libby into attainment of the PM2.5 standard."

Libby's "nonattainment" designation will not be effective until April 2009, giving the state an opportunity to provide more recent 2008 data to the EPA for consideration.

State and county officials initiated a wood-stove changeout program from June 2005 to April 2007 in which more than 1,000 woodstoves used to heat homes were either replaced or repaired.

Each cleaner-burning EPA-certified stove produces an average of 70 percent less pollution, according to the EPA.

An air quality alert that prohibited the use of wood-burning stoves went into effect in Libby for nearly three days in late October.