For Release: September 29, 1998

Contact: Stephen Majkut, 222-2808

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management's Office of Air Resources is inviting Rhode Islanders to a public meeting to discuss DEM's air quality protection programs and comment on the department's work plan for addressing air issues in the coming year. The meeting will take place Thursday, October 1, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in room 300 at DEM headquarters, 235 Promenade Street, Providence.

The work plan outlines the activities that the Office of Air Resources will undertake to preserve, protect, and improve the state's air quality during the 1999 federal fiscal year, and includes several new initiatives as well as the continuation of existing programs, according to Stephen Majkut, Chief of the Office of Air Resources.

"We will continue to work with the Division of Motor Vehicles to implement the state's new emissions' inspection program," Majkut said.

"We are also implementing a monitoring network for fine particulate matter," Majkut said. "New health information shows that breathing particles smaller than what we currently monitor cause health risks, including earlier death, so the Environmental Protection Agency has changed the air quality standard.

"We will be installing an extensive monitoring network at nine sites in Rhode Island to collect the necessary data. The stations should be up and running by January, including a background site at URI's Alton Jones campus and several sites in urban areas."

"We are also developing a program that looks at facilities that have the potential to accidentally release hazardous chemicals, and, with URI, are developing a program to audit those places," Majkut said. The program, he added, is keyed from a federal program, and will include DEM review of plans that must be submitted by identified companies to the Office of Air Resources by next June. Majkut estimated that about 130 locations will be affected.

The workshop is being held under DEM's Your State - Your Voice concept to include public priorities in the department's work plans, and in entering into Performance Partnership Agreements with the Environmental Protection Agency. Performance Partnership Agreements are a new method being embraced by both agencies where input from all interested parties is used to help set priorities and allocate resources for the coming year. "The outreach effort is one component of the agreement," Majkut said. An element of the Performance Partnership Agreement is frequent consultation with stakeholders and the general public on priorities.

DEM's Division of Water Resources and Waste Management have already held successful workshops under the Your State - Your Voice concept. This is the first such workshop sponsored by the Office of Air Resources.