Lane Regional Air Protection Agency outlines local monitoring, complaints response and wildfire challenges to Cottage Grove council

Travis Knutson, executive director of the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency, told the Cottage Grove City Council that LRAPA implements the Clean Air Act locally, operates county monitoring and complaint response, and helps businesses navigate permitting and enforcement.

Knuston said LRAPA runs eight federal-grade monitors in Lane County, supplements those with about 100 PurpleAir sensors, and maintains a local fee and permitting structure he described as more predictable for local businesses than the statewide system administered by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. “We are a local organization that's countywide. We protect air quality in Lane County, essentially implementing the Clean Air Act here locally,” Knutson said.

LRAPA staff explained the agency’s work tracing back to efforts in the 1960s and 1970s to reduce smoke from field burning and from residential wood stoves. Knutson said the agency also monitors particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), ozone during hot months, and hazardous air pollutants such as benzene and formaldehyde. He noted that wildfire smoke in recent summers has pushed some readings well above federal standards once wildfire data are included.

Knuston described LRAPA’s regulatory role as a delegated local authority under EPA rules and the Oregon DEQ, including issuing some Title V (federal) permits on behalf of the EPA. He said that LRAPA’s local presence shortens permit backlogs for county sources and provides more time for technical assistance with sawmills and other local industries.

“LRAPA’s approach ... provide[s] much more stability and ability for businesses to be successful and not, see added fees, unnecessarily or unexpectedly,” Knutson said, contrasting LRAPA’s roughly 4% annual fee escalator with state fee adjustments that previously produced large one‑time increases statewide.

Councilors asked about enforcement, local use of penalty funds and LRAPA’s role in wildfire and forest‑management conversations. Knutson said enforcement assessments collected by LRAPA in 2024 were about $21,000 and that, by statute, LRAPA enforcement dollars go to the Lane County General Fund. He also described the agency’s supplemental environmental projects program: when regulated entities face enforcement assessments, they may elect to fund local environmental projects such as yard‑debris programs or household hazardous‑waste removal instead of paying the funds to the county general fund.

Knuston highlighted a recent example of LRAPA securing federal funding to address a localized air‑quality nonattainment problem in Oakridge: a roughly $7 million program to replace uncertified wood stoves, provide dry season wood for cleaner burning and install ductless heat pumps and related measures to reduce winter inversions and wood‑smoke exposure.

Councilors and staff thanked LRAPA and asked to continue coordination on complaints, permit backlogs and wildfire‑smoke response. Knutson said LRAPA will remain available for follow‑up meetings and technical assistance.