FAIRBANKS—A task force that has been asked to make recommendations for curbing smoke pollution met Friday and heard about the harm done by tiny particulates that float out of chimneys and find their way into the bloodstream through the lungs.
And they heard that about $37 million in annual federal highway aid to Fairbanks that could be in jeopardy if nothing or too little is done to reduce the pollution.
Air pollution levels in Fairbanks and North Pole exceed limits under the federal Clean Air Act on cold winter days when smoke lingers close to the ground. Some of the highest PM2.5 concentrations in the country are being detected by a monitor in North Pole.
Recommendations for new smoke pollution control measures are expected to come out of the task force, known as the Air Quality Stakeholders Group, later this year.
“Some things you can’t see can still kill you,” physician Owen Hanley told the 35 professionals, from various sectors, in attendance. They were selected by the three area mayors and have been meeting at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
The stakeholders group has met three times and is working through a list of about 80 potential new pollution control measures. Fourteen of those measures were selected as priority measures to be discussed first.
The priority measures include prohibiting the use of coal heaters, a wider ban on hydronic heaters, prohibiting wet firewood to be sold during the winter, requiring chimney-scrubbing devices and converting to ultra low sulfur diesel oil, to name a few.
Many of the ideas aren't new and have been rejected by the Borough Assembly in previous years as too severe for Fairbanks.
They are being discussed again now because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has designated an area of the Fairbanks North Star Borough as seriously out of compliance with the Clean Air Act. As such, a new pollution cleanup plan is being developed by the state. The borough and local power plants are asked to adopt new control measures to be incorporated into the state plan.
Hanley, the physician, told the stakeholders group that the particulates are a problem because they carry chemicals into the bloodstream that cause inflammation, are cancerous and kill cells. He said PM2.5 is worse than second-hand smoke.
“Wood smoke is toxic because it’s incomplete combustion,” he said.
State air quality regulator Cindy Heil said doing nothing or doing too little to address the pollution could trigger federal sanctions as soon as 2020.
"This is real. It's been done," she said.
One potential sanction is a halt on investment at local military bases, Heil said.
Brian Rogers, the main facilitator of the stakeholders group, said the group will be going through the list of potential control measures one-by-one at its September and October meetings.
Fairbanks has a deadline of Dec. 31, 2019, to bring down levels of PM2.5.
The issue of air quality will be on the Oct. 2 boroughwide ballot once again. Proposition 4, a citizens' initiative, states that the borough "shall not in any way regulate, prohibit, curtail, ban, nor issue fines or fees associated with, the sale, distribution, installation or operation of solid fuel heating appliances or any type of combustible fuels."
Contact staff writer Amanda Bohman at 459-7587. Follow her on Twitter: @FDNMborough.
