There is interest in some quarters about bringing the Climate and Energy Action Plan back for another go-round, La Plata County Commissioner Gwen Lachelt said Monday.
The plan, which called for reducing the county’s emissions of greenhouse gases by 80 percent by 2050, was rejected 2-1 by the commissioners in office in March 2012.
Still, the county today is trying to implement certain elements of the plan, which underwent lengthy public scrutiny, Lachelt said.
Lachelt was among public-agency representatives who spoke at a meeting of the Four Corners Air Quality Group in Durango. About 60 people attended.
The group will gather today at the San Juan Public Lands Center for more technical discussions of the effect on air quality from wildfires, dust storms, regional haze, ozone and new federal rules governing natural-gas and oil production.
Lachelt said La Plata County currently is in compliance with the federal ozone standard of 75 parts per million. But if the standard is reduced to 60 to 70 parts per million, the county would not be in attainment, she said.
Stations in Ignacio, Bondad and the La Plata/Archuleta county line in the San Juan National Forest southeast of Vallecito monitor ozone in La Plata County.
Wildfires in Colorado and elsewhere in 2012 and 2013 had a detrimental effect on air quality and human health, said Lisa Devore, a Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment air-quality engineer.
The state experienced high-impact and costly fire seasons, Devore said. Much of the state was blanketed in smoke from fires in Wyoming and New Mexico as well as Colorado, she said.
A study in New Mexico that correlated exposure to particulate and emergency-room visits before and after the Wallow Fire found that people older than 65 years were particularly at risk for emergency-room visits. In addition, there was an increase in emergency-room visits by people ages 20 to 64.
A study in Colorado on air quality and human health as a result of the fires has not been published, Devore said. The National Center for Atmospheric Research, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Colorado State University are the authors.
Devore also joined a panel with Susan Johnson from the National Park Service and Mark Sather from the Environmental Protection Agency in Dallas, by telephone, to discuss the effect of mercury on humans.
The accumulation of mercury – a neurotoxin – in humans comes largely from the consumption of fish, Devore said. Several reservoirs in the Four Corners are posted with fish-consumption advisories.
Johnson said the deposition of mercury from wind and storms is on the rise at Mesa Verde National Park.
daler@durangoherald.com
