By Allison Hurtado | Ahwatukee Foothills News
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) used its public comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) of the South Mountain Loop 202 Freeway to ask the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) to conduct more tests and release more information to the community as a supplemental DEIS.
The EPA said ADOT did not include the necessary disclosure of potential particulate matter hot spot impacts and did not conduct the necessary emissions analyses or air toxics risk assessment that should have been included in the DEIS. Without this information the report has been given the EPA’s lowest a rating: “Category 3 — Inadequate Information.”
The EPA also requested reviewing this information with ADOT and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and providing feedback before a supplement to the DEIS is published.
