The Matanuska-Susitna Borough has only one Alaska DEC air quality monitor located in the Butte Community on Harrison Court. For more information please click the Butte Air Quality Monitor Air Quality Conditions for current and recent air quality for "fine particulate matter" (PM2.5, usually associated with smoke and other combustion products) and particulate matter (PM10, usually associated with wind-borne glacial silt/dust).
What's the issue?
In recent years, the air quality monitor in the Butte has documented elevated levels of fine particle matter pollution (PM2.5) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has warned the Matanuska-Susitna Borough (the Borough) that levels are threatening to exceed federal standards established to protect public health. The monitor located in the Butte has recorded PM2.5 concentrations near or above the PM2.5 24-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS), with increased number of exceedances in recent years.
Why is this important?
Our localized air quality problem has implications for borough citizen’s health, health care costs, regulatory burden for the Borough, state and federal projects, federal funding, and industrial and utility infrastructure. This web page is intended to provide background on the air quality issue in the Borough and an assessment of the potential impacts from this situation.
On March 5, 2019, the Mat-Su Assembly approved Ordinance 19-032, an air quality proposal designed to minimize health impacts and possible federal regulatory burden from exceeding national air quality standards for fine particulate matter (PM2.5). You can learn more about the ordinance in our Press Release.
Ordinance 19-032 does these things:
1. Repeals outdated air quality code (8.30) and replaces it with updated code (8.75).
2. Implements an air quality management plan that details the who/what/why of air quality management in the MatSu Borough.
3. Creates a Greater Butte Area Air Quality District that is defined by the Butte Community Council boundaries.
4. Asks residents in the Greater Butte Air Quality District to delay open, outdoor burning (e.g., slash burning & burn barrels) during days when an air quality advisory has been issued based on readings from the Butte air quality monitor that exceed the 24-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM2.5 (35.5 micrograms/cubic meter). The annual number of issued PM2.5 air quality advisories for exceeding the 24-hour NAAQS for the Greater Butte area have ranged from 0-8 annually, with an average of five per year. These advisories have been most commonly issued during cold, winter inversion days occurring in November through February.
5. Asks residents in the Borough to not do open burning of certain materials that produce black smoke, including plastic, asphalt, rubber, and oil wastes.
6. Proposes a new Memorandum of Understanding with the state Department of Environmental Conservation that allows this air quality program.
For more information please refer to Mat-Su Borough Code, 8.75.
** To report an air quality code violation: Call 861-7822, or download and fill out a complaint form HERE and submit via email to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
This report was drafted in response to questions from the Assembly in January 2018 and is intended to provide background on the air quality issue in the Borough and an assessment of the potential impacts from this situation.
Research confirms that dry wood is cleaner and safer to burn than wet wood. Burning wet wood is less efficient and produces excessive smoke. This aggravates many kinds of health problems, including asthma and heart conditions. It also leads to buildup of creosote in the chimney, which can result in a chimney fire. Burning dry, seasoned wood not only keeps the air we breathe cleaner, but it produces more heat while reducing the associated costs of heating your home!
The Borough experiences particle pollution or particulate matter (PM), which is a complex mixture of extremely small solid or liquid particles in the air. Some particles, such as dust, dirt, soot, or smoke, are large enough or dark enough to be seen with the naked eye and others are so small they can only be detected with a microscope. The size of the particles is directly linked to their potential for causing health problems.
Particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter pose a risk to health because they can affect both the lungs and heart. Because of the risk to public health, the EPA is required to set National Ambient Air Quality Standards for PM pollution that specifies a maximum amount of PM to be present in outdoor air10, and this is measured as either coarse PM (PM10) or fine PM (PM2.5). There are different standards for PM10 and PM2.5.
| Pollutant | Averaging Time | Level | Form |
|---|---|---|---|
| PM2.5 | Annual Mean | 12 µg/m3 | Annual mean, averaged over 3 years |
| 24-hour | 35 µg/m3 | 98th percentile, averaged over 3 years | |
| PM10 | 24-hour | 150 µg/m3 | Not to be exceeded more than once per year on average over 3 years |
PM10 includes particles that are 10 micrometers in diameter or less and it primarily comes from road dust, agricultural dust, river beds, construction sites, mining operations and similar activities. The Borough primarily experiences PM10 as blowing dust. When the Borough experiences high wind events, conditions are dry and low river levels expose large gravel bars and tidal flats (typical in fall and spring), large amounts of glacial silt can be stirred up and carried down the valleys.
The Borough issues several air quality alerts per year because of these wind-blown dust events. Because these elevated PM10 levels are from a natural source and often not reasonably controllable, rather than being required to control the sources of dust pollution, we are required to mitigate the impacts through air quality advisories and public education.
PM2.5 is less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter and is a product of combustion, primarily caused by burning fuels. Typical sources found in the Borough include outdoor burning of construction debris or trash (burn barrels), land clearing, and wood-fired heating devices. In the winter months, the Butte area can experience extended periods of inversions, where cold, dense air traps smoke close to the ground. This can cause elevated levels of PM2.5.
Particle pollution contains microscopic solids or liquid droplets that are so small that they can get deep into the lungs and cause serious health problems. A number of scientific studies have linked particle pollution exposure to a variety of problems.
Exposure to fine particles is linked to:
Particulates are known to have health impacts on humans. Human bodies have natural defenses to help cough or sneeze larger particles out of bodies, but those defenses don’t keep out smaller particles.
PM2.5 is associated with more severe health consequences: the smaller the particle, the greater the potential to impact health because they are small enough to slip through our natural defenses in the oral and nasal passages and penetrate farther into the respiratory tract and even enter the bloodstream. PM2.5 particles can lodge in the very small air sacs of the lungs which can slow the transfer of oxygen and carbon dioxide and cause the heart to work harder to achieve the same rate of transfer. These are similar to the health effects caused by the particles in cigarette smoke. This effect is most noticeable in children and the elderly as well as people with respiratory diseases like bronchitis, asthma, emphysema, or heart problems. However, particulate inhalation can affect all people and adverse effects may only appear after repeated low concentration exposures or exposure to extremely high concentrations.
Exposure to such particles can affect both the lungs and heart. Numerous scientific studies have linked particle pollution exposure to a variety of problems, including:
January 22, 2019 6-8pm
Butte Elementary School Gym
The EPA Clean Air Act requirements have cost the Fairbanks North Star Borough millions of dollars. Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Karl Kassel shared with the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly and Planning Commission how to prevent falling into a costly federal category called non-attainment and to how prevent bad air days.
After the meeting, Kassel spoke with Assembly Member Jim Sykes, who represents Butte, and Whistle Stop Host Patty Sullivan, about how the Fairbanks North Star Borough has been grappling with air quality issues for 30 years.
Fine particulate matter, or PM2.5 is less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter and is a product of combustion, primarily caused by burning fuels.
Coarse particulate matter, or PM10, is less than 10 micrometers in diameter and it primarily comes from road dust, agriculture dust, river beds, construction sites, mining operations and similar activities. The Borough primarily experiences PM10 as blowing dust.
Borough primarily has documented 2 different particulate matter (PM) air quality issues. Areas in the Borough experience blowing dust particles, typically in the fall and spring, primarily from natural sources (glacial silt) and is therefore not required to control sources of dust pollution. The Butte area has documented elevated PM2.5 levels which can be exacerbated by inversions in the winter months that trap smoke from wood stoves, burn barrels, and slash burning close to the ground.
Dust is a form of particle pollution (see "what is PM10") and the Borough does experience elevated levels of PM10. When we experience high wind events, conditions are dry and low river levels expose large gravel bars and tidal flats (typical in fall and spring), large amounts of glacial silt can be stirred up and carried down the valleys. The Borough issues several air quality alerts per year because of these wind-blown dust events, but because these elevated PM10 levels are from a natural source, and often not reasonably controllable, rather than being we are not required to control the sources of dust pollution, we are required to mitigate the impacts through air quality advisories and public education.
PM2.5 is associated with more severe health consequences: the smaller the particle, the greater the potential to impact health because they are small enough to slip through our natural defenses in the oral and nasal passages and penetrate farther into the respiratory tract and even enter the bloodstream. PM2.5 particles can lodge in the very small air sacs of the lungs which can slow the transfer of oxygen and carbon dioxide and cause the heart to work harder to achieve the same rate of transfer. These are similar to the health effects caused by the particles in cigarette smoke. This effect is most noticeable in children and the elderly as well as people with respiratory diseases like bronchitis, asthma, emphysema, or heart problems. However, particulate inhalation can affect all people and adverse effects may only appear after repeated low concentration exposures or exposure to extremely high concentrations.
Pulmonologist Dr. Owen Hanley from Fairbanks provides an excellent summary of the health impacts of PM2.5. What you breathe matters - here's why (27 minutes)
DEC began monitoring ambient air quality in Palmer/Butte area in summer 1985 in response to smoke generated by fires used to clear land in Point Mackenzie. As a result of this sampling, heavy dust loads were detected, and, by the 1990's Borough complaints about dust in Butte/Palmer had increased.
Currently, there is one PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) monitoring site in the Borough located in the Butte at Harrison Ct. In addition to the current monitor, previous sampling locations within the Borough include:
Federal requirements mandate at least one PM2.5 State and Local Air Monitoring Station (SLAM) for areas with populations between 50,000 and 500,000:
This site is considered a regulatory State and Local Air Monitoring Station (SLAMS) site. It is very difficult to get permission to remove a monitoring site. Federal rules require the following for removal of a PM2.5 SLAMS site:
Ambient air quality monitoring is expensive. Monitoring stations have to be set up for at least 3 years to produce sufficient data to compare to the national standards. This requires a lot of money for equipment and staff. In recent years, due to the State budget situation, the State has reduced the number of monitoring stations. DEC currently does not have the staff or funding to expand the monitoring network. DEC relies on public complaints to identify other areas of concern.
No. The MOU in and of itself does not allow the Borough to restrict citizen use of wood stoves.
Such restriction would require a code change and assembly action including public hearing and assembly vote. Wood stoves are an important heating source for many residents especially in areas where other heating sources such as natural gas are not available. Residents are encouraged to purchase wood stoves that meet efficiency standards and operate and maintain them properly.
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