Proposed EPA Rule Change Would Have Stripped Federal Air Quality Protection From Mono Lake, Owens Lake, and Rural America

The Mono Basin and the Owens Valley are the worst sources of windblown dust pollution in the United States--with concentrations during dust storms exceeding the federal standard by 10-70 times. Dust storms originate on dry lake bed areas exposed by excessive water diversions to the City of Los Angeles. Not only is this dust a threat to human health because the dust particle sizes are so small that they pass through the nose and throat and get directly into people’s lungs, but the dust contains toxins such as arsenic, cadmium, nickel, and sulfate salts. Currently, a working solution is in place to solve these Eastern Sierra air pollution problems and attain the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for safe air quality. Under a new proposal, those standards themselves would dry up and blow away.

Unfortunately, just a few days before Christmas 2005 the EPA introduced amendments to the rule for particulate matter (PM) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The amendments would entirely remove the existing particulate regulations in rural areas – and replace them with nothing. That's right: there would be no federal particulate standard left to meet at Owens or Mono lakes! Based on the PM rule changes there would be no protection for citizens living in cities or town with less than 100,000 people—37% of the US population. The EPA is charged with upholding the interests of the public; however, this amendment unfairly disregards the health of people living in and visiting rural areas.

The current EPA regulation provides a science based standard for measuring and regulating levels of dust in the air, and mitigation work at Mono and Owens lakes would eventually achieve safe air quality standards under the current rule. The proposed changes would undermine these successful solutions that are already improving the quality of the air that residents and visitors breathe. The current standards are a cornerstone in these long-fought environmental solutions. The proposed changes have serious implications for all of rural America, and threaten to unravel decades of progress at Mono Lake and Owens Lake.

Thank You for Speaking on Mono Lake's Behalf!