Public Meeting to Discuss Lead Air Pollution Area
in
Council Bluffs SLATED FOR FEB. 16
MEDIA CONTACT: Jim
McGraw, Air
Quality Program Development Supervisor, (515) 242-5167, [log in to unmask]
The Department
of Natural Resources Air Quality Bureau (DNR) will hold a public meeting Feb. 16
at 9:30 a.m. at the Council Bluffs Community Hall, 205 South Main Street, on a
proposed lead nonattainment area in Council Bluffs. The purpose of the meetings
is to provide more information on the proposed nonattainment area and seek input
from the public, businesses and other affected
stakeholders.
A
nonattainment area is designated when outdoor (ambient) air pollution levels
violate the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The lead
monitor located in Council Bluffs has measured five violations of the NAAQS for
lead, from data collected through October 2010.
In 2008 the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lowered the lead NAAQS from 1.5 to 0.15
micrograms per cubic meter of air, measured as a consecutive three-month rolling
average. EPA lowered the lead NAAQS due to recent scientific studies that
indicate people’s health is impacted at lower levels than previously
understood.
Because the
monitor measures ambient air quality and not specific sources of lead pollution,
the EPA has directed the DNR to make a nonattainment area boundary
recommendation that will focus the DNR’s effort in planning to bring the
affected area back into attainment by December 2016. Sources of lead emissions
to the air include industrial combustion and ore and metals
processing.
Please contact
Jim McGraw at (515) 242-5167 [log in to unmask]
or Matthew Johnson at (515) 242-5164 [log in to unmask]
with questions about the meeting. More information about the monitoring data is
available on the DNR website at http://www.iowadnr.gov/air/prof/monitor/monitor.html
.
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Mindy
Kralicek
Information
Specialist 2
Department of Natural
Resources
Wallace State Office Building
502 East 9th
St.
Des Moines, IA
50319
(515)
281-7832
Fax: (515) 281-6794