An industry-backed bill to regulate how data from community air monitors is used was given final legislative approval Monday over objections from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and activists seeking to reduce pollution.
The measure, which now awaits Gov. Jeff Landry’s signature after a final Senate vote, comes with community air monitoring efforts receiving an influx of money and focus from the federal government, including in the part of Louisiana activists refer to as “Cancer Alley.”
Such efforts are intended to bolster the state’s official 40 or so air monitors, which community activists say have been insufficient to guard against elevated pollution levels in neighborhoods near Louisiana’s petrochemical plants. Such neighborhoods are often poor and Black, and have sought to draw attention to environmental justice concerns.
Sen. Eddie Lambert, R-Gonzales, sponsored the bill and says it is intended to ensure accurate data is being used to determine whether companies are in violation of air pollution rules. He said he sponsored the bill because industrial plants serve as the “economic engine” of parishes he represents.
“You can have everything out there,” he said. “What is something that gives accurate information?”
The Louisiana Chemical Association, which supported the bill, also said it was meant to ensure proper equipment was being used to evaluate pollution.
The EPA has however warned that the legislation could improperly discard credible evidence of air pollution violations and may conflict with federal law.
Marylee Orr, who heads the Louisiana Environmental Action Network activist group, noted her group’s recent efforts to work with industry and state regulators on community monitoring.
LEAN recently received a $500,000 EPA grant, half of which is being used to produce data through the use of mobile air monitoring vehicles. Orr’s group has partnered with a company named Aclima to carry out the monitoring.
A fleet of vehicles began monitoring a 300-mile route along both banks of the Mississippi River in south Louisiana in December, and Orr says it has turned up some surprising data so far – indicating the need for more monitoring.
She says the bill is overreach since the state has always had the discretion to discard data it deems unreliable. It also sends a message to communities that their efforts to bolster the state’s monitoring sites are not welcome, she said.
Orr noted that monitoring has become even more important with standards for acceptable levels of fine particle pollution, or soot, having been reduced earlier this year.
“Perception is reality, and the perception of the community is that they’re trying to stop them from getting independent data, independent monitoring, and giving them any value at all,” she said. “And that’s really important.”
The bill sets out specifications for how data from community monitoring can be used. It says “data produced from community air monitoring programs alone is insufficient to demonstrate a stationary source is in violation of rule, regulation, or permit condition.”
Such monitoring must use standards set out in federal law and EPA-approved methods in order to show industry violations, it says.
The legislation also sets out rules for how the data is published. It says “any release or communication of the collected monitoring data shall include clear explanations of data interpretation, appropriate context, including the applicable or comparable ambient air standard data limitations, and relevant uncertainties.”
The state DEQ says it does not comment on pending legislation. Lambert said he had not discussed the bill with Landry and could not say whether he would sign it.
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