By Brian Wright | Casa Grande Dispatch
Farmers have been known to say the unpleasant smell coming from cattle in a community is the smell of money. But in this case, some of the physical elements tied to that smell could end up costing the city of Maricopa millions of dollars.
In July 2012, an air quality monitor in the Cowtown section of Maricopa was designated as being in “nonattainment” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its PM10 dust readings, although the designation was due to readings that came over the course of several prior years. Maricopa achieved “attainment” for its other category of air quality — the finer particles called PM2.5 — about four months ago.
The 10 and 2.5 numbers refer to the size, in diameter, of dust particles measured by the monitors. “Nonattainment” means out of compliance with federal environ- mental law and regulations.
What’s upsetting for city leaders is they are basically handcuffed when it comes to doing something about the Cowtown monitor, which is located in the middle of a cattle feedlot. Pinal County is the local authority for air quality.
At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality made a presentation, and Mayor Christian Price expressed frustration at the city’s inability to help itself in a situation that could cause massive damage to Maricopa.
Trevor Baggiore, air quality deputy director at ADEQ, told the council that failure to submit an adequate air quality plan to the EPA could result in sanctions including the freezing of federal funds related to any highway projects. Maricopa’s biggest long-term project is building an overpass on Arizona 347 to divert traffic above the Union Pacific Railroad tracks near Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway. The project carries a $65 million price tag, something the city cannot afford without significant federal funding.
A state implementation plan to show PM10 attainment is due to the EPA by Jan. 2.
If the Cowtown monitor were moved, the city could lose its clean data finding, or its numbers that led to its PM2.5 attainment status. It takes three consecutive years of acceptable air quality readings on a monitor to achieve CDF, so losing that data would put Maricopa back at square one.
