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I do not object to the new gross PM2.5/PM10 standards. If properly and consistently monitored, they would go a long way in improving our air quality.
Unfortunately, the new standards would not go into effect until 2013, and the old PM10 standards would be eliminated for our region when the new standards are adopted later this year. This leaves a 7 year gap with no enforceable standards, and likely no monitoring.
We also might lose our Industrial emission offsets, the requirement for our industry to meet the new technology LAER standards, and the 5 ton threshold for industrial pollution permitting.
The results could catastrophic for the health and safety of out citizenry. As we know from past history, unmonitored pollution without sanctions can not be held to low levels.
It could also have a significant adverse effect on the economic vitality of our region. Because of the "quality of life" enjoyed by our citizens, including clean air, we have become a mecca for retirees from California and elsewhere. Our population has aged, and so has the number of frail elderly with respiratory and cardiac disease who might become ill or die if pollution levels increase.
I strongly urge the EPA to maintain the present PM10 standards until the proposed new particulate standards go into effect in 2013. Doing anything less would violate the EPA's mission of protecting our airsheds.
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