DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Star-Tribune energy reporter | Posted: Monday, June 25, 2007 12:00 am
SHERIDAN - Nine times in 2007, air quality monitors in the southern Powder River Basin mining district have exceeded dust standards.
Although all of the incidents have been blamed on high wind events, continued dust problems could eventually trigger "non-attainment" status under air quality laws.
A non-attainment designation would force a moratorium on all new mining, oil and gas, and virtually all industrial activity in Campbell County, which produces more than 400 million tons of coal annually and is the epicenter of the state's largest natural gas field.
"This year was kind of strange. It seems we have been seeing higher winds," said Mike Warren, district manager of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality's Air Quality Division.
Warren discussed air quality matters with mine operators at the Wyoming Mining Association's 52nd annual convention.
PM-10 refers to particulate matter smaller than 10 microns per cubic meter, which is the size of dust that air quality experts have determined to be a health threat. From 1991 to 2001, the southern Powder River Basin mining district hadn't recorded a single PM-10 exceedence. Then a rash of 13 exceedence prompted mines and regulatory officials to step up dust suppression efforts.
Companies and Campbell County officials cooperated on several road treatments, asked drivers to slow down on dirt roads, and mines adjusted operations to control dust.
Warren said mines in the region must adhere to "best available control technology" when it comes to dust suppression. Just recently the industry has moved to comply with best available control measures, which could include goals for minimizing total surface disturbance area of each mine.
Just six mines in the southern Powder River Basin account for approximately 28,000 acres of surface disturbance, according to DEQ.
"We are going to have some internal meetings to discuss this, and we also need help from the mining industry to interpret some of these numbers," Warren told mine officials.
One measure industry and regulatory officials took was to set up a "Natural Events Action Plan." If a company with an air quality permit records a PM-10 exceedence, it can submit evidence to DEQ to list it under the Natural Events Action Plan, which indicates the mine's operations were not at fault.
Warren said all of the PM-10 exceedences in the are so far this year have been filed under the action plan . However, it's up to the Environmental Protection Agency to grant the designation.
"We have to send it off to EPA for approval, and that kind of worries me and worries the division," Warren said. "What if EPA doesn't approve our flags?"
Agricultural operations, train traffic, public traffic, coal-bed methane and the drought also contribute to fugitive dust in the region. Mine officials said their focus is to suppress dust and continue with rapid reclamation to minimize surface area disturbance.
Energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 577-6069 or dustin.bleizeffer@casperstartribune.net.