Flathead County Cuts Air Quality Monitoring to Single Site as Costs Rise
DEQ says 30-year compliance record on fine-particle pollution won't be affected by closing Kalispell and Whitefish sensors
By Zoë Buhrmaster
Flathead Valley’s air monitoring network for tiny airborne particles is being consolidated from three sites to one, following the decommissioning of sensors in Kalispell and Whitefish.
The monitors scanned the air for PM10 — tiny airborne particles measuring 10 micrometers and smaller that often result from activities such as construction, driving unpaved roads, and industrial emissions.
The monitors track PM10 — airborne particles measuring 10 micrometers or smaller, often produced by construction, unpaved-road traffic and industrial emissions. The state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) separately monitors PM2.5, the finer particulate matter associated with wildfire smoke, through its Today’s Air website. Jennifer Harris, DEQ’s air quality analysis supervisor, said the department is also considering adding PM2.5 sensors at schools statewide, which would feed into the online air-quality network PurpleAir.
DEQ decommissioned the Kalispell PM10 site earlier this year. Flathead County, which held a contract to help DEQ oversee the Whitefish scanner, followed suit after commissioners approved DEQ’s recommendation Aug. 18. Replacing the aging Whitefish equipment would have cost about $22,000, plus annual maintenance, Harris said. With its closure, all valley PM10 monitoring now runs through the Columbia Falls site.
“A lot of the problem we’re having is overall cost,” Harris said. She noted the Flathead Valley sites have not exceeded EPA standards for PM10 in more than 30 years. “There’s no change in risk to the community from consolidating it down to one site.”
Commissioner Pam Holmquist said the county remains attentive to air quality generally, distinguishing PM10 from PM2.5, which spikes locally during wildfire season. She pointed to the county’s dust cost-share program — which helps coordinate dust-relief applications on county roads — as a possible contributor to the valley’s long compliance record.
“Maybe we’ll just take credit for that 30 years of good air, or a little part of it anyway,” Holmquist said.