EPA wants larger nonattainment area for Q-C

By Tom Saul | Tuesday, August 19, 2008

The federal Environmental Protection Agency wants to declare a much larger portion of the Quad-Cites region in nonattainment for fine particle air pollution, but Iowa officials say they will ask for a delay to make a case against it.

The EPA proposal to include all of Scott County and all of Rock Island County brought strong disagreement from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which in April told community and business leaders that only about three square miles of west Davenport was likely to be declared in nonattainment with federal air quality standards.

A federal declaration, which could come by the end of the year, would mean more hurdles for future industrial and transportation development in the area and a stigma that could hurt efforts to grow the local economy.

“We want an additional year to work with area industries on making additional reductions (in fine particle pollution) and not have any area of nonattainment at all,” said Catharine Fitzsimmons, head of the DNR’s air quality bureau. “We initially asked for that, and it became clear that the EPA was not going to do it, so we asked for a declaration for a more limited area.”

DNR officials will have until Oct. 20 to submit information to the EPA seeking the delay, Fitzsimmons said. The state agency is also encouraging local leaders and the general public to offer material and comments to the federal environmental agency by the deadline.

The DNR’s unveiling of the much smaller area was based on readings taken from an air monitoring station located just outside the property line of Blackhawk Foundry and Machine Co. in a residential area of west Davenport. Two other stations in Davenport and one on the Rock Island Arsenal have shown readings within allowable limits.

James Grafton, president of Blackhawk Foundry, said his company is doing all it can to reduce levels of fine particle pollution even though it is unclear whether the operation is a contributing source of the contamination.

Grafton also noted that an EPA comment period for planned removal of lead contaminated soil at the foundry may needlessly spook neighbors. The contamination that affects 3,000 to 5,000 square feet of ground is low grade, and the waste could be disposed of in the Scott County landfill, he said.

The cleanup is a remnant of a much larger contamination problem at the foundry that was taken care of years ago, Grafton said. An EPA plan calls for scraping away contaminated soil and capping contaminated areas with gravel.

Tom Saul can be contacted at (563) 383-2453 or tsaul@qctimes.com.