Air Pollution Control Minutes

  Telephone Flat Geothermal Development Project - The Final Environmental Impact Report covering the Medicine Lake area. The Report covers Text, Technical Appendices, and Comments & Responses to Comments.

Air Monitoring

We monitor for ozone, particulate matter and acid rain as mandated by the State and Local Air Monitoring System (SLAMS). We maintain all monitoring equipment.

• Ozone: The monitor continuously records ozone data on a strip chart. Data is summarized and reported to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) quarterly. A series of precision checks are made weekly to insure data integrity.

• Particulates: Particulate matter less than 10 microns in diameter (PM10) is monitored in Yreka, Mt. Shasta, the Lava Beds and Alturas. Alturas also is equipped with a PM2.5 monitor as well. In this program, we condition and weigh the used filters, calculate pollutant concentrations and report to CARB.

• Acid Rain: We have one rain collector located at the Siskiyou County Airport. We change the collection buckets each week and we preliminarily analyze any samples in our laboratory to determine PH/conductance of the rain water. We forward the samples to National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP).

Burn Program

Numerous government agencies are developing annual and long-range (controlled) prescribed burn plans to reduce fuel loading in our state and national forests/parks. This planned increased burning will impact our air quality within the District. Our District is involved in the burn program by coordinating burning, possibly on a daily basis, to prevent any violations of state and federal ambient air quality standards.

The California Department of Forestry (CDF) has the responsibility of issuing permits during the fire season, while we have the responsibility during the non-fire season. Burn permits issued by the SCAPCD for agricultural burning will be honored by CDF when burning is permissible.

Residential Burning: We do not require permits for residential burning. CDF does require permits during their fire season. Local fire departments may also require permits.

Agricultural Burning: Agricultural burning requires a permit from us during the non-fire season and CDF or USFS during the fire season with these exception:

• Open burning in agricultural operations in the growing of crops, or the raising of animals, or the control of disease and pest prevention at altitudes above 3,000 feet do not require a permit during the non-fire season.

• Forest management burning above 6,000 feet does not require a permit during the non-fire season.

Burn Day Information

Daily burn forecasts are made by CARB. We provide this information to the public by a recorded phone message at 842-8123. The recording is updated as conditions change.

A request to burn on a no-burn day can be granted provided there will be no adverse impact to a smoke-sensitive area, and the applicant makes a written statement of immediate threat of substantial economic loss. We may also change a burn day to no-burn if needed to protect the air quality.

Air Pollution Control Program

Permits are required for sources that emit detectable amounts of air pollutants. Lumber mills, asphalt plants, rock crushers, geothermal wells and gas stations are examples of facilities requiring permits.

Complaints

These may be received directly by our office or relayed via CARB or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). We verify that the dust, odor, etc., is present and which source may be responsible. The owner or operator of the source is contacted, an inspection and corrective action is discussed. Serious problems may dictate that a Notice of Violation be issued. Appropriate action is taken.

Enforcement

Enforcement action may be required whenever a violation is observed. This could be the result of a public complaint or from routine inspections. Enforcement action requires good judgment and depends on the type of violation, severity of the problem, the degree to which the violation impacted sensitive receptors, and the affects on the ambient air quality.