Performance Details

Department of Environmental Conservation - Division of Air Quality

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Mission

To conserve, improve, and protect Alaska's natural resources and environment and control air pollution, in order to enhance the health, safety, and welfare of the people of the state and their overall economic and social well being.

Core Services

• Protect air quality.
• Timely issue air quality permits.
• Conduct air quality assessments and identify air pollution concerns.
• Minimize pollution from stationary sources.

Mission Results

Core Services

A: Protect air quality.  Details >

A1: Protect air quality.  Details > TARGET #1: No days when air is unhealthy for sensitive groups. A2: Timely issue air quality permits.  Details > TARGET #1: Issue or deny all construction and minor permits within 130 days after receipt of a completed application. TARGET #2: All stationary source air quality operating permits are current. A3: Conduct air quality assessments and identify air pollution concerns.  Details > TARGET #1: All air quality samplers audited under the State's oversight pass the State's quality control audits. TARGET #2: All advisories are issued within six hours of receiving notification of impaired air quality. A4: Minimize pollution from stationary sources.  Details > TARGET #1: All facilities requiring air quality permits are known to be in compliance.

Performance Detail

Target #1: No days when air is unhealthy for sensitive groups. Methodology: Data is calculated using sampling information from samplers in the Municipality of Anchorage, City and Borough of Juneau, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, and the Matanuska-Susitna Valley. Analysis of results and challenges: Data for calendar year 2021 will be available in the early months of 2022. The Department of Environmental Conservation has been collecting ambient air data in the most populated communities around the state for over 25 years. Air monitoring ensures compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards designed to protect public health. The EPA sets health-based standards for particulate matter and gaseous pollutants. In the state, the primary pollutants of concern are particulate matter and carbon monoxide (CO). Violations of the standards occur when the concentration of air pollution particulates rise above the defined limit as a result of natural events and/or emissions from man-made sources. Natural sources of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution include smoke from wildfires, while coarse particulate matter (PM10) pollution includes ash from volcanic eruption or windblown dust from gravel bars. Man-made PM2.5 pollution is often the byproduct of combustion processes, including home heating emissions such as from wood stoves, and diesel and gas vehicle emissions. Man-made PM10 pollution in Alaska is frequently produced by road dust from gravel roads and road sanding materials. The chart above shows the number of days the air quality was deemed unhealthy for sensitive groups, including children, the elderly, and people with lung or heart diseases. The increased numbers in 2012 and beyond is due to the installation of the North Pole monitoring site. In 2020, 30 exceedances occurred in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, one occurred in the City and Borough of Juneau, and one occurred in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. All 32 of these exceedances were man-made, due to winter-time surface inversions trapping wood smoke and industry pollution near the surface. Additionally, smoke from fireworks contributed to the exceedances seen on December 31, 2020 in Fairbanks and Juneau. There were no naturally caused exceedances in 2020 in Alaska. Since 2000, no violations of the CO standards have been recorded. The State is currently working with the Fairbanks North Star and the Matanuska Susitna Boroughs to evaluate the extent of the pollution problem and to tailor strategies aimed at eliminating the fine-particulate problem. More information about the Department's air monitoring projects throughout the state can be found at http://www.dec.alaska.gov/air/. Related links:    • http://www.dec.alaska.gov/air/

Target #1: Issue or deny all construction and minor permits within 130 days after receipt of a completed application. Methodology: Records of permits issued during the fiscal year and applications received but not issued. Days to issue permit is calculated from the date an application is found complete until permit is issued, less any days waiting for information from applicant, as recorded by the Department's AirTools Database. Analysis of results and challenges: Permits must be obtained with the Department of Environmental Conservation before construction begins if a facility will create air pollution, or if a facility will be modified in a way that increases the amount of air pollution produced. Timely issuance of these permits allows responsible development to proceed without unnecessary delay. The number of permits being sought decreased in FY2021 by 8% (59 compared to 64 in FY2020). The Department issued 36% of those permits within the target 130 days. The drop of issuance rate of permits is due to an increase in complexity of permitting actions being sought along with adjustment to teleworking due to the COVID19 pandemic. In addition, significant staff time was utilized to provide assistance to both a permit fee study and to perform an extensive Best Available Control Technology analysis of permitted facilities required for the calculations/narrative of the Fairbanks Serious State Implementation Plan. Not included in the FY2021 issued permits count was the additional issuance of 13 minor general permits for asphalt plants, crushers, and portable oil and gas units. The Department expects a level or slight decrease in permit applications over the next year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which has caused a drop in demand for oil and gas resources and put a hold on many development projects. At the same time, staff have streamlined portable oil and gas drilling operations permit issuance with a minor general permit MG2 which is now available and in use for the North Slope operators.

Target #2: All stationary source air quality operating permits are current. Methodology: For each fiscal year, the number of active operating permits less than five years old is divided by the total number of sources that required operating permits that fiscal year (excluding sources subject to EPA veto). Analysis of results and challenges: Stationary source permits are issued for fixed-site producers of air pollution such as power plants or other facilities using industrial combustion processes. Large stationary sources require air quality operating permits with the necessary conditions to demonstrate compliance with all applicable air quality regulations under Title V of the federal Clean Air Act and Alaska Air Quality Control Program. Current permits ensure that stationary sources understand their obligations to comply with applicable air quality regulations. Permits are issued for a five-year duration. If an applicant submits a timely renewal application (submitted within 180 days of the expiration date), but the Department of Environmental Conservation is not able to issue the renewal permit by the stated expiration date, the existing permit is automatically extended by statute. These administratively extended permits allow for continued operation of stationary sources and they are considered to be "in compliance." Under such administratively extended permits, the sources must still comply with recently issued federal and state air quality rules, even though the original permit does not include them. Administratively extended permits are always more than five years old and therefore not included in the count of active permits that are less than five years old. For FY2021, 68% or 84 of the 124 stationary sources possess a current permit. This is a decrease in the number of active permits compared to FY2020. The count methodology was modified in FY2014 and has continued to use that new methodology into the current year. 14 operating permit renewals are currently ready to be issued but remain delayed (bottlenecked) by an EPA veto that affected all 14 similar facilities. The EPA objected to how a permit characterized a long-term federal emission limit; however, the permittees insisted that they could not comply with a permit drafted to meet the EPA objection. We removed these 14 permits from the total number of sources considered for this performance measure because they are backlogged as a result of an external issue that is outside program control and does not reflect program performance. The Department continues to work to resolve the issue with the permittees and EPA. The measure remains comparable to previous years with periodic cyclic variation. The Department’s quality objectives remain consistently high as we have achieved a very-low-to-non-existent appeal rate on issued permits due to close coordination with stakeholders, regulatory agencies, and the permittee. The Department expects to make progress on the routine backlog queue as new staff begin to contribute more fully to permit development.

Target #1: All air quality samplers audited under the State's oversight pass the State's quality control audits. Methodology: Data is calculated using all the samplers the state air quality assurance officer or his or her designee audited during a calendar year. Analysis of results and challenges: Data for calendar year 2021 will be available in the early months of 2022. The Department of Environmental Conservation is responsible for monitoring the quality of ambient air throughout the state, directly operating air quality monitors and analyzing measurements of air pollutants, or by providing oversight to local governments that operate their own sampling sites. The Department operates year-round air quality monitors in several of the most populated areas of the state, including Anchorage, Fairbanks/North Pole, Juneau, and the Matanuska-Susitna Valley. Air monitoring is conducted to ensure compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards which were established under the Clean Air Act to protect public health. In order to ensure that all data collected meets EPA's quality assurance standards, the air quality assurance officer or his designee conducts independent audits on all monitors under the State purview; at a minimum all particulate matter monitors are audited twice per year, and all gaseous analyzers once per year. While there is no set requirement, the Department strives to maintain a rate of greater than 95% successful audits. This independent assessment is intended to amplify quality assurance and verify the accuracy of the collected data. The chart shows the percentage of audited monitors that pass all audit requirements. Corrective actions are taken expeditiously for each monitor that does not pass the rigorous audit requirements. There are many reasons why instrumentation might fail an audit, ranging from equipment malfunctions to extreme climate conditions, operator errors, and combinations of several causes. Travel restrictions related due to the pandemic impacted the program such that only about one third of the monitors were audited in 2020. All of those monitors passed their audits.

Target #2: All advisories are issued within six hours of receiving notification of impaired air quality. Methodology: Data is calculated using the number of advisories issued within a six-hour period after notification of a potential air quality impact to an area within the state divided by the total number of air advisories issued. Analysis of results and challenges: The Department of Environmental Conservation issues air quality advisories to affected regions in the state whenever air quality might be impaired. These advisories may be issued for natural pollution events, like impacts from wildfires, volcanic eruptions, and dusty high winds. Advisories are also issued when air quality is unclean due to man-made pollution. Where available, the Department uses air monitoring data or visibility information from the National Weather Service to assess and predict the level of pollution to the impacted areas. The Department works cooperatively with local community air programs in the City and Borough of Juneau, the Municipality of Anchorage, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, to assist them with issuing air quality advisories. For all other areas of the State outside of those municipal jurisdictions, Department staff are fully responsible for issuing advisories if air quality degrades or has the potential to degrade to levels that might be unhealthy for sensitive groups. Air quality advisories are posted to the Department's web page and electronically disseminated to the media, schools, and hospitals, as well as to interested individuals via email and social media. The Department maintains an online service that allows agencies and individuals to sign up to receive notification of air quality advisories. Interested individuals can check for air advisories at: http://dec.alaska.gov/Applications/Air/airtoolsweb/Advisories Issuing timely air advisories is critical to providing citizens the greatest ability to take measures to protect themselves from exposures to unhealthy air. Staff base advisories on monitoring data and/or information provided by local communities, the Alaska Fire Service, Alaska Volcano Observatory, or other agencies. If information cannot be verified in time or staff are unavailable to issue the advisories, delays can occur. The chart shows the percentage of air quality advisories that were issued within six hours of receiving notification of a potential air quality impairment. In FY2019 the Department became the issuing authority for the Fairbanks North Star Borough's (FNSB) inversion induced wintertime air quality impacts. For FY2021 92 FNSB wintertime advisories were issued, 47 for North Pole and 45 for Fairbanks as well as 1 advisory for summertime wildland fire smoke impacts and 1 advisory for volcanic ash from the eruption of Veniaminof Volcano. Related links:    • Air Quality Advisories

Target #1: All facilities requiring air quality permits are known to be in compliance. Methodology: Count of source in each category at the end of the fiscal year, as recorded in the Department's AirTools and Compliance tracking databases. "Unknown Status" includes all major sources which have not been evaluated for compliance in the past two years and all minor sources that have not been evaluated in the past five years Air Quality Permit Compliance Fiscal Year In Compliance Addressed Cases Out of Compliance Under Investigation Unknown Status Total FY 2021 417 1 57 37 24 536 FY 2020 435 0 46 26 30 537 FY 2019 446 2 41 14 39 542 FY 2018 448 2 32 24 14 520 FY 2017 443 9 28 13 7 500 FY 2016 431 5 34 12 14 496 FY 2015 420 9 25 8 40 502 FY 2014 398 3 14 9 72 496 FY 2013 377 1 18 4 88 488 FY 2012 398 9 25 14 92 538 FY 2011 314 7 39 23 173 556 Analysis of results and challenges: Air Quality permits are issued for fixed-site producers of air pollution such as power plants, refineries, and oil and gas production facilities, among a variety of other sources of air pollution. The State and federal compliance assurance agreement requires periodic compliance evaluations of all major stationary sources and certain minor stationary sources. The data shown above includes all Alaskan operating sources that require an air quality permit. Ideally, the Department of Environmental Conservation would know the compliance status of all permitted sources at any given time. Sources with a known compliance status (in compliance, addressed cases, out of compliance, or under investigation) have increased overall from 58% to 78% of these sources between FY2011 and FY2021. Of the 536 facilities, 418 are in compliance. The 24 "unknown status" sources consist of sources of air pollution that are newly established or permitted within the past five years, and for which the Department has yet to conduct an initial compliance evaluation. Until the Department conducts an initial inspection, a source has an "unknown" compliance status. Newer sources generally have initial evaluations that have been scheduled but not yet conducted. Knowing a facility's proper compliance status means staff can work with the facilities to fix noncompliance issues by giving guidance on how to better follow its air quality control requirements or by requiring corrective actions. The number of facilities' with "unknown status" had a marginal decrease but can be attributed to a recent uptick in newly permitted facilities within the five-year cycle.

Current as of November 10, 2021