Lake County air district reports steady attainment, details permitting, burn-permit and monitoring work

Doug Gerhardt, the Lake County Air Pollution Control Officer, told the Lake County Board of Supervisors sitting as the Lake County Air Quality Management District Board of Directors on Oct. 12 that the district has met state and federal air-quality standards for 35 years and is running ‘‘in the 60 to 90% range of air quality standards’’ as it monitors for changing standards.

Gerhardt said the district has hired a new employee who started the day before the meeting and another staffer scheduled to begin the following Monday. He summarized monitoring and permitting activity and described several operational requirements the district enforces under state and federal law.

The update matters because changes in state or federal standards, major wildfires or noncompliant stationary sources can trigger a nonattainment designation that would require new rules, loss of some burn-program flexibility and additional mitigation. Gerhardt described the district’s role as enforcing local, state and federal air-quality laws ‘‘to meet the ambient air quality standards and protect public health.’’

Gerhardt said the district maintains a main monitoring station in Lakeport and additional monitors in the Geysers area for hydrogen sulfide and meteorology. He described mobile and portable particulate monitors used after wildfires and said the district has…