Regional haze, it’s nothing like Jimi Hendrix’ purple haze

What do cars, dust, manufacturing operations, and national parks have in common? Regional haze.

You may have seen regional haze when trying to get a look of Mount Rainier or the North Cascades and were disappointed because you couldn’t see them easily because of a brown or white haze. That haze is air pollution and comes from a variety of sources such as vehicles, industrial and power-generating plants, and some natural sources. It can impair visibility and reduce the vibrancy of colors and other inspirational details.

Managing air pollution so we can all see a little better

Washington and other states throughout the nation have been working to ensure that you and your kids and their kids will be able to see, and enjoy, our majestic mountain wilderness areas. It’s the same sort of far-sighted vision that motivated Theodore Roosevelt when he established our national parks.

Regional haze has reduced scenic views in national parks and wilderness areas from an average of 140 miles down to 35-90 miles in the western United States. At first blush this might not seem like a serious issue, but consider this. What if you grew up never clearly seeing the epic Olympic Mountains, Mount Baker, or Mount Rainier because our air pollution was too dense? It would certainly change our quality of life and impact our health and environment.

A report on Washington’s regional haze

We just released our 5-year progress report on regional haze. The report includes the advances we’ve made to improve visibility. It also shares visibility information about the areas in Washington that are being monitored.

Visibility is measured by collecting and analyzing particles in the air as part of an interagency monitoring effort. We do this in partnership with the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service. In Washington, there are nine monitoring sites. We collect one 24-hour air sample at each site every three days, providing up to 121 samples a year per site.We analyze the samples for substances such as sulfate, nitrate, carbon-containing particles, sea salt, and dirt and sand — all of which affect visibility. We calculate visibility based on the types and amounts of substances in the particles.

The Federal Clean Air Act requires that we make efforts to improve visibility through a Regional Haze Plan. In 1977 the Act declared a national goal to remedy existing visibility issues and prevent future haze caused by man-made air pollution at selected national parks and wilderness areas of the United States, known as mandatory federal Class 1 Areas.
 Washington has eight mandatory federal Class 1 areas, totaling more than 3.3 million acres of land:

•  Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area
• Glacier Peak Wilderness Area
• Goat Rocks Wilderness Area
• Mount Adams Wilderness Area
• Mount Rainier National Park
• North Cascades National Park
• Olympic National Park
• Pasayten Wilderness Area

Visibility is improving

Long-term monitoring trends suggest that visibility is improving somewhat at our national parks and wilderness areas listed above.

You can learn more about these trends and more by reading our Regional Haze 5-year Progress Report.

Share your opinion on our Regional Haze Report

We’re asking people to weigh in our report and have opened a public comment period.  You can comment on our Regional Haze 5-year Progress Report through Aug. 1, 2017:

• Visit our regional haze web pages for more background information.
• Read the Regional Haze 5-year Progress Report.
• Comment on the report.

If you’d like to see more pictures of regional haze and improvements being made, visit the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments website. 

By Camille St. Onge, Air Quality and Climate Change Communications

The best solution is less pollution … 50 years of the Clean Air Act

(This is the second post of a three-part series.) 

Fifty years ago, Washington’s Clean Air Act was adopted in order to improve air quality for

Washingtonians. Since that time, much has been done to reduce harmful pollutants that effect our environment and people’s health. 

One of the many benefits of the good work started years ago, if maintained, is that that you, and future generations, can enjoy our majestic mountain wilderness areas. 

Seeing clearly through the haze

If you’ve ever looked out at Mt. Rainier, or any other scenic vista from far away and it appears hazy or blurry, chances are, those aren’t clouds blocking your view. It’s likely air pollution, also referred to as regional haze, and it’s one of the many air quality issues we’ve been working to improve.

Regional haze is formed by particulate matter that absorbs and scatters light. It can travel a

The same view with different amounts of
particulate matter in the air.

very long distance and individual particles are too small to see with your eyes. The more particles in the air, the harder it is to see far away. It also can cause serious health problems when inhaled. 

What makes up air pollution?

Air pollution and smoke are made up of hundreds of different complex mixtures of gases and fine particles; like soot, dust, and dirt.

Many of these mixtures contain harmful primary pollutants like: 

• Sulfur dioxides. Gases that form when sulfur is exposed to oxygen at high temperatures during fossil fuel combustion, volcanic eruptions, oil refining, or metal smelting. At high concentrations it can dissolve in clouds and chemically combine with oxygen to form sulfuric acid, otherwise known as acid rain. 
• Nitrogen oxides. A group of gases composed of nitrogen and oxygen. Two of the most common nitrogen oxides are nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide. Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Nitrogen oxides are produced by the burning of fuels from many things such as vehicles, power plants, industrial, commercial and manufacturing facilities.
• Volatile organic compounds. These are chemicals that can easily become vapors or gases. Along with carbon, they contain elements such as hydrogen, oxygen, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, sulfur, or nitrogen. Gasoline-burning engines are a major source but they are also found in many products used daily, such as paint and household cleaners. 

When nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds interact in sunlight, they create ground-level ozone, a secondary pollutant. Ground-level ozone is a harmful, colorless, and highly irritating gas that forms just above the Earth's surface. This is not the same as stratospheric ozone in the upper atmosphere that protects us from the sun’s ultraviolet rays.

Effects of pollutants on the environment

Even though many of these compounds are found in nature, having too many of them can:

• Make lakes and streams acidic; harming aquatic life and economically damage fishing industries. 
• Change nutrient balances in water and soil; causing damage that can’t be repaired. 
• Cause damage to forests; resulting in a loss of wildlife habitat.
• Damage crops; resulting in economic loss. 
• Contribute to acid rain; that stains and erodes monuments.  
• Affect the diversity of ecosystems; by limiting their ability to function and grow, such as during oxygen-robbing algal blooms.

Effect of pollutants on human health

Air pollutants, like fine particles and ozone, can harm people’s health. As pollution levels rise, the number of trips to the doctor due to pollution-related illnesses may also increase. Air pollution is a real public health concern because it can cause or contribute to serious health problems like:

• Headaches
• Premature death in people with heart or lung disease.
  
• Heart attacks.
• Irregular heartbeat.
• Aggravated asthma symptoms.
• Decreased lung function.
• Irritation of the eyes and airways causing coughing or difficulty breathing.
• Respiratory infections
• Cancer.
• Increased health care costs.

People at the most risk are children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with cardiovascular or respiratory disease. Health effect research shows that death rates in several U.S. cities increased when there were higher levels of particulate matter in the air. 

Coming soon

Our third and final blog will discuss things you can do to minimize your contribution to air pollution and what Ecology is doing to protect human health and the environment. Working together, we can ensure healthy air for another 50 years and future generations!
If you’re interested in seeing what the air quality is like in your community, check out our monitors your area by visiting Washington’s Air Monitoring Network. 

To learn more about the history of our state's Clean Air Act visit WaCleanAir50.org

Part I: We’ve come a long way baby … celebrating 50 years of the Clean Air Act

Part 3: A breath of fresh air ... 50 years of the Clean Air Act

By Kim Allen, Air Quality

wacleanair50.org

Air Time: Efforts focus on reducing air emissions

By Seth Preston, Communications Manager, Air Quality Program

Ecology is asking for comments about a revised proposal for reducing nitrogen oxide emissions from TransAlta’s coal-fired power plant near Centralia in Lewis County.

The TransAlta plant is the state’s largest stationary source of nitrogen oxide emissions. Nitrogen oxide is a visibility-reducing pollutant, which contributes to regional haze in national parks and wilderness areas. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has directed states to reduce regional haze in coming decades.

Speaking of TransAlta, the Canada-based multinational company has opened its new U.S. headquarters in Olympia. Here’s the company’s news release, as well as a statement from Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Here are a few other news items related to emission reductions:

• The Seattle Times recently detailed a proposal to use liquefied natural gas to power some state ferries, instead of diesel fuels. The story, and the idea, focus more on long-term fuel cost savings, but it also notes that the fuel switch would reduce the vessels’ carbon dioxide emissions.
  
  
• The Bellingham Herald reports that the Whatcom Transit Authority has received grant money to buy five hybrid buses. Doing so will save fuel costs and cut emissions.
  
  
• And the Los Angeles Times reported last week that environmental groups are suing three companies that operate 17 rail yards throughout California because of the toxic diesel particles being emitted by locomotives and trucks over surrounding communities.

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Severe weather brings flooding across our state

By: Jessica Payne, Shorelands program communications manager

Washington is among the most flood-prone states west of the Mississippi River. The costs of flood damages in our state exceed those of all other natural hazards. This week's severe weather has many communities fighting the floods.

Floods are Washington's most costly natural disaster.

How we help during flood season

We partner with federal, state and local government agencies to help communities in need when floods strike. Do you need to see current flood alerts? Are you trying to find your local emergency management office? Perhaps you are looking for technical assistance or want to learn what to do before, during and after a flood?

We can help connect you:

• Flooding resources and information
• Find Flood Hazards maps in your area

Floodplains by Design: Building more resilient communities 

A huge part of our work is to help communities work better with their floodplain. People of Washington are living in the path of flood waters, our water quality is on the decline and habitat critical to restoring salmon populations is disappearing. We work in collaboration with Puget Sound Partnership and The Nature Conservancy to administer a grant program called Floodplains by Design that funds city projects that not only reduce flood risk, but restore salmon habitats, protect agricultural land, improve water quality and enhance outdoor recreation.

Our WCC crews lay sandbags as severe flooding
threatened Hoquiam in January 2015.

WCC helps communities in need

Another way we help? When disaster strikes, our Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) crew members deploy. The WCC, an AmeriCorps program run through our agency, responds to disasters in Washington State and beyond. 

During floods, they lay sandbags, organize volunteers, remove storm debris, gut flood-damaged debris from houses and do so much more. See how they assisted in Hoquiam this past January.

You can prepare to prevent pollution

Winter weather can be challenging to us personally, and our actions can also be hard on our water and air resources. Here are some things you can do to help reduce seasonal pollutants.

See flooding? Stay away! Flood water may contain
sewage, harmful bacteria and viruses.

• Stormwater runoff from rain and melting snow goes down our storm drains. Unlike the water that goes down your home’s drain to the sewer system, stormwater that flows into storm drains is not typically treated or filtered for pollutants. It flows directly into creeks, streams, rivers, lakes, and Puget Sound.
• Hazardous products and waste need to be managed so they don't cause pollution in a flood. Did you know that floodwater may contain sewage?! The first step is to reduce your use and the amount on hand of hazardous products and hazardous wastes. Then safely store and secure any of these substances or materials you do have on hand.
• Report Spills! Accidents happen, especially when the weather gets messy. If you see a spill or hazardous debris, please let us know.
• Using wood heat can lead to poor air quality. If you burn wood for heat, burn cleanly to reduce smoke and regional haze. Remember to comply with burn bans.
• Diesel generators can be a helpful energy source if the power goes out, but be aware of the danger of diesel emissions.

Learn more about what you can do on our website.