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Sac Metro Air District celebrates attainment of 2008 ozone standard; APCO previews airport monitoring and community outreach
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Summary
Dr. Alberto Ayala, the district's Air Pollution Control Officer, reported on Aug. 28 that the Sacramento region has attained the 2008 ozone national ambient air quality standard and previewed a yearlong mobile monitoring deployment adjacent to Executive Airport.
Dr. Alberto Ayala, the district's Air Pollution Control Officer, used his Aug. 28 report to highlight several items including a regional celebration marking attainment of the 2008 ozone national ambient air quality standard and upcoming monitoring work near an airport.
"We attained the 2008 ozone national ambient air quality standard," Ayala said, and staff described the milestone as the result of 15 years of coordinated work with partner air agencies (Yolo-Solano, Placer, El Dorado, Feather River) and community and business participation. Ayala said EPA Region 9 Administrator Josh Cook and U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui attended a recent celebration in Folsom and staff emphasized the achievement as a regional collaborative effort.
Ayala also provided details about community engagement activities: district staff participated in multiple National Night Out events to share program information and attend community gatherings. Staff also supported demonstrations of cleaner event technologies — including a hydrogen-powered equipment demonstration for food-truck events — and attended community festivals to raise awareness about incentives and clean-technology demonstrations.
Regarding the AB 617 portable lab move reported earlier in the meeting, Ayala said the district plans to locate the lab adjacent to Executive Airport and is coordinating with airport officials. He acknowledged potential controversy and community concern over airport emissions and lead but said prior sampling campaigns have not found ambient lead concentrations near national standards. "We are not seeing those emissions impact the ambient air around the community," Ayala said, while noting the new yearlong monitoring deployment will produce updated, more advanced instrumentation data to inform future discussion.
The board had no public speakers on the APCO report item and no immediate action was taken; Ayala said staff will return later in the year with a fuller discussion of airport-related monitoring results and contextual analysis.
