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- Councils', Air Authority views clash
- GRANDVIEW (1-11-99)---The Sunnyside and Grandview City Councils and Yakima Regional Clean Air Authority met last night to chat about 214 pages of toothy new environmental regulations the Authority proposes.
The new regs would go into effect sometime after the public comment period, which ends with a final public hearing in Yakima Feb.17. Folks are urged to show up for this meeting to voice their opinions.
Violators of the new regs would, progressively, be warned, then ticketed, then ultimately slapped with a $10,000-a-day fine if they fail to comply. Average tickets today range between $500 to $3,000.
The new regs would cover carbon monoxide and dust emissions, especially in areas where "sensitive receptors"--children, the ill, the aged, and the pregnant are known to hang out. That is, hospitals, nursing homes and schools.
- The Authority has conducted a series of public meetings to hear testimony regarding the new regs, mostly this month.
- On Feb. 17, a public hearing will take place in Yakima, ostensibly to see whether the new regs should be put into effect. The state is interested in the legal process. If the meetings and hearings are like many others the state has conducted regarding imposition of new regs, testimony will be largely ignored. Regs will go into effect, and that will be that.
- Les Ornelas, the The Authority's air pollution control officer, indicates this won't be the case, however.
- "We're legally obliged to respond to comments in writing and workshop testimony, Ornelas said. He added that these comments--"legitimate comments" that is--may make for changes in the proposed regulations.
- The devil is in the details of the big regulatory document Ornelas disseminated last night.
- Concerning carbon monoxide levels, new regs would institute more highly oxygenated and 5¢-more-per-gallon gasoline.
- "I own a mechanic shop. There are many problems with cars using highly blended gas," said Sunnyside Councilman Mike Farmer.
- It's also conceivable the Authority could buy up all the old 60s clunkers that don't have adequate emission systems. Regs would bring the hammer down on non-complying woodstove owners as well.
- Regarding particulates, the regs target sources like construction sites, feed lots, street sweepers, winter traction materials, and unpaved roads and alleys.
- Reasons given for the new regs include premature deaths in county residents, labor loss, increased health costs, decreased productivity due to illness, and "temporary debilitation."
- Can Ducky Lucky, however, prove the sky is falling, and that toothy new regs are needed to keep pieces from bonking Lower Valley residents on the noggin?
- Well, not really.
- The Clean Air Authority has only one nasty-air sensor, and it's perched atop Chief Kamiakin School in Sunnyside. That's it.
- Does the Authority harbor provable early-death statistics? No--such a study is "too expensive", according to Ornelas.
- This seemed to pique Sunnyside City Mgr. Don Hahnfeldt's curiosity.
- "Do we have any data?" he asked Ornelas.
- Ornelas indicated data is extremely sketchy.
- Are there statistics, asked Grandview Councilman Norm Childress, that show carbon monoxide emissions and particulate matter is worse that it was 40 years ago? Ornelas said there is no comparative data.
- Sunnyside councilman Don Vlieger told Ornelas that, "If you're going to make up guidelines, you need to base them on real-world costs. People will fight regulations not based on these," he said.
- Sunnyside Councilman Chad Werkhoven said it didn't seem the Authority has much scientific data to back up its claims for newer, stiffer regulations.
- "How do they consider odors?" asked Vlieger. "What's a stench to one person isn't to another," he said. "It's subjective."
- Ornelas indicated government science does have a basis for this one. "We have the 'sniff test'," said the former Californian who came to WA in 1995 and was known in his home state as one who would go after anybody who breaks clean air laws. "We bring in fresh noses to provide these sniff tests."
- Ornelas indicated fresh noses are owned by persons who don't live in the area under study. If something stinks, these persons are better qualified than those attached to unfresh, local noses to file such reports.
- Grandview City Mgr. Jim Sewell told Ornelas the new regs "quarter-mile rule" would effectively shut down all agriculture operations in Grandview. That rule would make it illegal to operate agricultural installations a quarter mile from schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and elder care outlets.
- "Agriculture is the life's blood of this area," Sewell said.
- Government, however, is not populated by persons who are known for their prowess in economics.
- Ornelas indicated the new regs have their roots in federal policies. If these policies are ignored by locals, federal bucks are withheld when locals seek federal grant money for this or that.
- "The (Authority) Board demands things of me as pollution control officer," Ornelas said when confronted by local officials with the raw power of logic and common sense.
- At one point Mike Bren, Grandview Councilman, said he needed to get together with the Grandview city attorney. "We need to know what the procedure is to secede from Yakima County," he said with a grin.
- Grandview Councilman Rick McClain asked Ornelas, "Are we in compliance (with existing regulations) now?" Ornelas said "Yes--so far"
- "How would you characterize the feedback you've received from Sunnyside and Grandview" relative to the new regs?, Sunnyside City Mgr. Hahnfeldt asked.
- Said Ornelas, "I'd say the cities are concerned, and would prefer voluntary innovation in local programs rather than new regulations."
- "Would you say that we favor the new regulations?" Hahnfeldt pressed.
- Ornelas shook his head. "I'd say you are yet to be convinced," he said. (Click for related story)