Sept 12th Air Pollution

[Tom Trail <ttrail@moscow.com>]

>Visionnaries--we experienced severe air pollution the afternoon and early
>evening of the 12th.
Julie Pipal of the Idaho Dept. of Agriculture sent me this message about
the source of the
pollution; however, there still appears to be a mystery since the acreage
mentioned seems too small
to cover a 5 county area.   Several authorities indicated with the wind we
also picked up quite a
bit of dust.   We will be looking at some new rules which will be more
stringent in terms
of guidelines for burning fields during the next legislative session.

Rep. Tom Trail
>
>Rep. Trail:
>
>Today I learned that two 1/2-acre parcels and one 4-acre parcel in Benewah
>county and on tribal ground were burned two days ago.  Those fires escaped
>into timber land.  At this time we do not know if it was private or public
>timber land.  Incidentally, meteorological conditions were unusual when the
>fires escaped as the wind was blowing south instead of north.
>
>Also, because of the particulate conditions, there was an air stagnation
>advisory issued for the Clearwater airshed, which is Nez Perce, Latah,
>Idaho, Lewis and Clearwater counties.  The advisory was lifted this morning
>by DEQ because air quality conditions had returned to the "good" range.
>
>To our knowledge, there was no approved burning conducted in Latah county
>yesterday.
>
>Sincerely,
>Julie Pipal
> Idaho Dept. of Agriculture
>

Dr. Tom Trail
International Trails
1375 Mt. View Rd.
Moscow, Id. 83843
Tel:  (208) 882-6077
Fax:  (208) 882-0896
e mail ttrail@moscow.com