EPA Dust Report

Air quality is at the heart of a report being sent to the Environmental Protection Agency. The issue has been a series of major dust storms near Kennewick. Laurie Hulse-Moyer, Air Quality Planner with the WA State Department of Ecology describes the report.

HULSE-MOYER: When a dust storm occurs and it causes an exceedance of a federal air quality standard, then if it's a natural event there is a way that we can write up a report and make it so that it doesn't count against the area.

In 2013, three exceptional storms in Kennewick created high winds and excessive amounts of blowing dust. During these storms, Kennewick's air pollution levels exceeded the national air quality standard. 

HULSE-MOYER: If we want to claim, as is true, that the dust storm caused the exceedance then we have to write a report and write up all the potential sources of the dust and what kind of controls they have. We've evaluated the control measures that agricultural sources use and found them adequate so that despite these controls there was an exceedance.

There is a public comment period open right now on this report. She explains why this report is important.

HULSE-MOYER: The standard is you can have three exceedances in three years but if you go over that then you've violated the standards. It complicates things for business permitting and it just kind of put a spotlight on the area so there would be more discussion of whether controls on agriculture were adequate.

And that's Washington Ag Today. I'm Greg Martin, thanks for listening on the Ag Information Network of the West.