Spokane off federal ‘dirty air’ list
Under perfect blue skies Tuesday at Riverfront Park, Spokane officials reveled in a moment that was decades in the making – the city’s removal this week from the federal government’s “dirty air” list.
It hasn’t been easy. Due to its unique, bowl-like geography that traps pollutants, Spokane is the second-to-last city in Washington state to be removed from the Clean Air Act’s “non-attainment” list for carbon monoxide and particulates. Wallula, near Walla Walla, the last of the state’s dozen areas that repeatedly flunked federal standards, is expected to get off the list next month.
“The whole state will be in attainment by September,” said Tom Eaton, director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Washington state operations office. He congratulated Spokane leaders for their feat.
“After more than two decades of non-attainment, the EPA takes great pleasure” in certifying Spokane as a city that meets federal standards, Eaton said. “This is critically important to Spokane so you can continue to enjoy clean air while you grow,” he added.
Jeff Selle, public affairs director of the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce, congratulated the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority, the Washington Department of Ecology and local industry and business development groups that worked for cleaner air. The chamber initially fought the EPA over the non-attainment designation, but then worked with businesses and public agencies to get Spokane off the “dirty dozen” list.
Being in attainment means that new or expanding industry in Spokane will not need to meet more stringent construction and permitting standards required in non-attainment areas.
Attainment “is proof to potential employers seeking to relocate to Spokane that we are a community that cares about our quality of life,” Selle said.
Cleaner-burning cars are a major factor in reducing carbon monoxide in the air, said Eric Skelton, Spokane County Air Pollution Control Agency director. Newer wood stoves are also cleaner, reducing particulate emissions, and fewer people are heating their homes with wood, Skelton said.
Other pollution-control factors include street paving, traffic flow improvements and the use of chemical liquid de-icers instead of road sand in the winter. Other control strategies will include road sweeping and wood smoke curtailment programs, and a motor vehicle inspection and maintenance program.
Despite the good news, Spokane can’t simply rest on its laurels, Skelton said. Levels of ozone, a lung-damaging pollutant, are rising. Spokane’s air also sometimes contains very small particles called PM 2.5 that, while still falling below the federal standards, are considered unhealthy for sensitive people because they go into the lungs and can carry chemicals into the bloodstream.
Preliminary results of the county’s first air toxics survey this year show “potentially unhealthy levels” of chemical pollutants, Skelton said.
But for the moment, the air quality coalition was celebrating its successes.
“The situation here in Spokane is definitely challenging,” said Grant Pfeifer, Ecology’s regional air quality director. Spokane’s geography traps pollution near the ground and the region is growing, he said.
Pfeifer lauded all the “air-watchers” in Spokane – those people who take positive steps to safeguard the air, including tuning their cars, using buses and car ools, burning dry wood and ensuring that industrial emissions are as low as possible.
“Thank you to all those who care,” Pfeifer said.