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Residents urge county to measure ultrafine particles, cite omitted context in consultant presentation
Summary
At the July 8 meeting, a resident group and a monitor urged the county to follow the science on ultrafine particles, share sensor data collected over July 4, and cooperate with community monitors after alleging omission in a staff consultant’s presentation.
A resident monitor and advocacy representative, Ellen Anderson of Aspen Village, used her public-comment time at the Pitkin County commissioners’ meeting to press the county to take ultrafine-particle pollution seriously and to work cooperatively with community-led monitoring.
"Trying to deny a problem does not solve it," Anderson said, and she criticized an earlier presentation by county consultant Roger Wason for omitting context such as an ongoing class-action suit near SeaTac involving airport pollution. She told the board her group has deployed sensors over the July 4 weekend and plans to expand monitoring and share data with the public and county staff.
Anderson said differences in measurement approaches do not justify inaction. "World Health Organization looks at it differently from the EPA," she said, but added, "we have learned their lesson from radon." She invited county staff to cooperate with community sensors and asked that the county not try to block citizen measurement efforts.
County staff thanked Anderson for her work and acknowledged the county would look for constructive ways to engage on measurement and data sharing.
The comment was made during the public-comment portion of the July 8 meeting and did not lead to any immediate board action.
