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March, 2006
Date: Sat Mar 25, 2006 03:55:31 PM PDT
Subject: Docket ID No.OAR-2001-0017
Sirs and Madams,
As a County Commissioner representing Jackson County, Oregon, I am troubled by recent proposed EPA rule changes that could have a severe adverse impact on the airshed of our region.
In the early 1980s, Oregon's Rogue Valley had one of the most contaminated airsheds in America. Frequent temperature inversions, coupled with particulates from smudge pots from orchardists, open burning by citizens, dirty auto exhausts, and emissions from wood processing factories, produced a perpetual haze that threatened the health of our most vulnerable citizens.
Because of the EPA's strict PM10 standards, coupled with the threat of sanctions for non compliance, particulate levels dropped significantly during the past two decades. Even though our population has doubled since 1970, we have been in compliance with your agency's PM10 standards during the past few years.
This remarkable feat occurred because the diligence and financial sacrifice of both our citizens and local industry. It also occurred because the PM10 standards provided a clear benchmark that made monitoring numbers understandable to all of us, and told us whether or not we had been making progress by our efforts...
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