Pitkin County approves runway grant submissions and air-quality monitoring study amid debate over ultrafine particle monitoring
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Summary
County approved FAA runway grant submissions and a related Holy Cross Energy trench/easement to support an airport air-quality monitoring program; public commenters and some commissioners pressed for ultrafine-particle monitoring, and staff said ultrafine protocols differ and committed to report on feasibility and costs.
Pitkin County commissioners on Jan. 14 approved submission of an FAA infrastructure grant application for Runway 15/33 (approximately $9.64 million in requested funds) and considered related agreements to enable navigational-aid moves and an air-quality monitoring study at Aspen/Pitkin County Airport (Sardy Field).
Airport staff said approximately $1.6 million of runway-designated funds will expire this year if not applied to the runway project and asked the board to use existing runway pots and submit the infrastructure grant. "So we have been holding these for this project... approximately 1,600,000.0 of that will expire this year if we don't put it over, toward the runway," staff said.
As part of the runway planning the county presented a proposed nonfederal reimbursable agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration to shift FAA-owned navigational aids west to accommodate the runway work; staff said the local agency must pay the cost up front and would be reimbursed at approximately a 90% rate next year (the up-front budget impact is about $450,000). The board approved first reading and set a Jan. 28 public hearing for the reimbursable agreement.
Commissioners then heard a sustained public and technical discussion about air-quality monitoring at the airport. Concerned citizen Ellen Anderson urged the county to measure ultrafine particles and establish a local baseline, arguing ultrafines are a subset of PM2.5 and have distinct health impacts: "We should measure ultrafine at ASC... Not doing so, I believe, is willful ignorance," she said.
Public-health and air-quality consultants acknowledged the interest in ultrafines but described technical and protocol differences. One consultant explained: "The monitoring for ultra fines is a different protocol than, for other pollutants, just because it is a new science and a specialization." Staff said the county's monitoring program will run across a full calendar year to capture seasonality, will measure PM2.5 and VOCs and other markers that support modeling, and that modeling and dispersion analysis will be used to estimate the airport's share of emissions. Staff committed to report back on whether ultrafine monitoring is feasible and the expected costs.
The board also approved an emergency ordinance granting an underground easement to Holy Cross Energy to facilitate trenching and vault work needed for the monitoring equipment and infrastructure allowing the study to proceed.
Next steps: staff will submit FAA grant applications, finalize the reimbursable agreement for a later grant year for certain navigational‑aid elements, proceed with the air quality monitoring plan and return to the board with technical documentation and cost estimates, including a feasibility assessment for ultrafine monitoring.
