EPA To Alaskans In Sub-Zero Temps: Stop Burning Wood To Keep Warm
FUUUUUUCK the EPA. They're a bunch of dip shit non-thinking assholes. I was pretty pissed when they fought us tooth and nail for a decade to get rid of useless ******* IM tests that were costing Anchoragites billions every year, 10 ******* years and we were well above lower 48 standards. The don't burn wood or we take away your road funding was the last straw of my patience with these pricks.
I hope Trump fires every one of these sobbing little bitches, and their co-workers.
Fairbanks Air Quality Plan | EPA in Alaska | US EPA
The EPA has taken a necessary step to protect air quality in Fairbanks, Alaska.
We are proposing to approve the Fairbanks North Star Borough fine particulate or PM2.5 air quality plan submitted by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.
Alaska’s air quality plan demonstrates that the Borough has been unable to attain the Clean Air Act PM2.5 air quality standard by the date required.
Alaska’s air quality plan also identifies reasonable actions to move toward meeting the PM2.5 standard. The plan focuses on reducing emissions from residential heating sources — wood stoves and hydronic heaters — that contribute to high particulate pollution levels in the area.
Fairbanks was designated nonattainment for the 2006 24-hr PM2.5 air quality standard in December 2009. The state’s Fairbanks air quality plan was due in December 2012. In January 2013, the DC Circuit Court remanded the Clean Air Act 2007 implementation rule for particulate matter. In response to this ruling, EPA revised the submission date for states to submit their moderate air quality plans to December 31, 2014.
Alaska submitted the Fairbanks air quality plan in December 2014. For more information on Alaska's air quality plan, visit Fairbanks PM2.5 Moderate SIP Exit.
EARTHJUSTICE filed a Complaint for Failure to Act on June 9, 2016 against the EPA. After public notice and comment the EPA committed to proposing action by January 19, 2017 and a final action by August 28, 2017 through a consent decree.
The state’s Fairbanks air quality plan included all of the required elements of an attainment plan which demonstrates that it was impracticable to attain the standard by the required deadline.
Alaska demonstrated that it implemented all reasonably available control technologies and measures available including the primary source of elevated fine particulates in the Borough, wood stoves and hydronic heaters.
In 2015 the Borough, and in 2016 the state, approved a mandatory curtailment program to restrict the use of woodstoves during periods of harmful levels of particulates in the air.
Under a curtailment program, the Borough and the state track weather conditions on a daily basis and provide restrictions on woodstove use to reduce emissions when conditions are bad for air quality and public health.
This year, Alaska and the Borough will continue to work with the local community to develop a more rigorous plan to reduce fine particle emissions in Fairbanks and North Pole and to achieve the standard.
The state has until December 31, 2017 to submit a Fairbanks serious air quality plan to the EPA.
In a related action, EPA has proposed to reclassify the Borough from moderate to serious non-attainment, because the Borough did not meet the PM2.5 standard in 2015. The Borough has recorded the highest level of fine particulates in the nation.
Reclassification to serious will require that the state develop a serious air quality plan which will be more stringent than the moderate plan. In contrast with a moderate plan which requires implementation of all reasonably available emissions control technologies and measures, a serious plan will require implementation of the best available emissions control technologies and measures.
The state and the Borough are already working to develop a serious area plan.
Though EPA expects to reclassify the Borough from moderate to serious, the Clean Air Act requires EPA to act on the state’s moderate area plan; EPA must take final action on the moderate plan by August 28, 2017.
