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Bureau of Land Management Research Needs
TITLE: Regional Air Quality Analysis: SW Wyoming
(Wyoming Air resources Monitoring System [WARMS])
SUBMITTING BUREAU: Bureau of Land Management
Originating Office: Wyoming State Office
DATE SUBMITTED: June 20, 1997
BIN NUMBER: BLM02CR98
BRD REGION: Central
DESCRIPTION OF NEED: The proposed project, estimated at $255,000, is intended to establish a network of meteorological (MET) and air quality monitoring stations state-wide to collect needed MET/emissions data to:
1) accurately assess cumulative air quality impacts associated with oil and gas development, trona mine expansions, pipeline and compressor station projects, and prescribed burning projects;
2) allow calibration of the SW Wyoming Air Quality impact analysis model currently being developed for use in BLM EISs;
3) and, provide input data for prescribed burn plan modeling and permit application.
Data collection could include:
1) a network of 6 aerometric stations (located to complement existing visibility and atmospheric deposition stations), for collection of additional meteorology observations (wind speed/direction, air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, solar radiation, and precipitation), needed to augment the limited existing data for subsequent large-scale pollutant transport modeling;
2) using this same instrumentation, collection and compilation of monthly average measurements of aerosol sulfate and nitrate within the region, augmenting the limited data on the chemistry and concentration of regional emissions.
MANAGEMENT PROBLEM WITH NEED: Concerns about degrading visibility and increasing air pollution have been growing over the past few years, especially in southwest Wyoming. Recent studies have shown that lakes in the Rocky Mountains are relatively uncontaminated compared to many other high-elevation lakes in the world, but monitoring conducted by the USFS over the last 10 years has indicated that some alpine lakes in southwest Wyoming may be very sensitive to nitrogen saturation at very low levels of deposition. This monitoring indicates that nitrification and acidification has potential to occur in the watersheds and lakes within the Wind River Mountain Class I wilderness areas, a clear violation of the Clean Air Act's provisions for Class I Area protection. Atmospheric emissions from trona production, oil and gas production, electrical power generation, rail traffic ans have centered upon cumulative impacts of emissions from permitted sources (including trona industry, coal fired power plants, natural gas sweetening facilities, etc.) and those from sources excluded from the permitting process (oil and gas sources, etc.) upon managed Clean Air Act Class I wilderness areas in the Bridger/Teton and Wind River Mountains. These comments cite adverse impacts potentially to visibility (optical clarity of the atmosphere) and deposition of acidifying chemicals to alpine lakes.
Also, the EPA is working on a rulemaking for Regional Haze management which will include more stringent air quality emission control requirements. The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality is reviewing its Visibility Implementation Plan and, based on recommendations from the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission, is planning to develop a more stringent smoke management program (for prescribed burning) which addresses visibility impacts in Class I areas.
BUREAU CONTACT:
Wyoming BLM (Cheyenne):
Susan Caplan (307) 775-6031
Luis Maestas (307) 775-6057
Rick Schuler (307) 775-6092
US Forest Service (Ft. Collins):
Alan Ellsworth (970) 498-1052
Laura Hudnell (970) 498-1094
Lawrence Berkeley Lab:
Melissa Lunden (510) 486-4891
Nancy Brown (510) 486-4241
Dept. of Energy:
Bill Hochheiser (202) 586-5614
BRD PRIMARY CENTER: MESC (ECRC)
BRD CENTER CONTACT: Don Hunter (Jim Petty)
RESULTS OF BRD-INITIATED COMMUNICATION (FY99): Contacts continue between all participants in the project. A progress report has been prepared and is almost completed at the present time. Meetings were held in mid December 1998 (WY BLM) and the end of January 1999 (CSU Atmos. Dept.) to report on the project itself as well as progress to date (see below). Both meetings went very well. All were present at the Dec. meeting - held at the Cheyenne WY BLM offices. A different group attended the Jan. meeting: J. Zachariassen, S. Caplan, and S. Leonard, R. Edgar (EPA), D. Fox (CSU Atmos. Dept.), A. Riebau (USFS), and K. Zeller (USFS). We continue to develop our collaboration with the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, particularly with M. Lunden. A lengthy conference call at the end of Jan.1999 resulted in future plans being firmed up; participants were J. Zachariassen, S. Caplan, M. Sestak, and M. Lunden.
Introduction: The Wyoming Air Resource Monitoring System (WARMS) has evolved out of the Intermountain Wilderness Area Ecosystem Study (IWAES). The latter was intended to provide a set of observations and a data base of baseline conditions of natural ecosystems in remote areas of the western United States. These observations have helped scientists and land use managers to distinguish between changes caused by human activities from those due to the intrinsic dynamics of the ecosystems involved. The Wyoming Air Resource Monitoring System will take a more practical approach and the ultimate use of the data collected will be quite different. Similar information will be gathered - current and future micro-meteorological data: air temperature, wind speed and direction, relative humidity etc. and aerometric conditions: concentration of atmospheric particulates (sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium) and aerosols (sulfur dioxide and nitric acid). Efforts will be concentrated (at first) in the South West region of Wyoming (the Green River Basin), this area was chosen because it is mined heavily for oil, gas, and trona (sodium hexacarbonate) - the refining of these raw materials resulting in the production of suspended particles and aerosols. Further development has been proposed for this region which may (or may not) result in an increased atmospheric load of both particulates and aerosols.
Climate and Air Quality: The monitoring procedures to be used in WARMS have been (and will be) taken directly from those used in IWAES and the wilderness monitoring protocols developed in the Baseline Wilderness Monitoring Project. These in turn were derived from standard method texts. Each site will be equipped with a climate and air quality monitoring station, this station will be solar powered with a battery backup where line power is unavailable and allow for unattended operation for up to one month between service and calibration. Data sampling from the station(s) will be once per week resulting in finer temporal resolution of the data and more realistic and accurate comparison with information from the Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNet). The possibility also exists for collection of hydrological, lymnological, vegetation, and soil biogeochemical data - depending on manpower and budgetary constraints as well as Bureau of Land Management priorities and needs.
Air Quality Monitoring: Monitoring of air quality at the site(s) centers on use of the three stage filter pack technique. The proposed filter pack for WARMS will follow CASTNet protocols for filter preparation, sampling, and analysis. Each pack contains three filters arranged in series; teflon, nylon, and sodium carbonate impregnated cellulose. The teflon filter traps suspended particles of sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium and, the nylon filter absorbs gaseous nitric acid and sulfur dioxide, and the sodium carbonate impregnated filter collects sulfur dioxide. Air is drawn through the filters at a rate of two liters per minute (LPM) at standard temperaure and pressure (STP: 760 mm Hg and 25 C). Each pack will sample for one week (7days) so the data will yield one week integrated concentrations of each component being measured.
Filter packs were chosen because the hardware is readily available and their simplicity and low cost compared with continuous ambient air analyzers make them especially attractive for field monitoring.
Progress to Date: At the present time (mid February 1999) two aerometric stations have been established, one at the AD site in north Fort Collins CO and one at the Glacier Lakes Ecosystem Experiment Site (GLEES). The latter is in the Snowy Range/Medicine Bow Forest west of Centennial Wyoming. The Fort Collins site was deployed as part of Interagency Agreement (IA) number K910A40014 and is still operational. The GLEES site was established in the beginning of December 1998 and is also still operational; funding for the establishment of this site was from the above mentioned IA.
DATE SUBMITTED TO REGIONAL OFFICE: February 22, 1999
PREPARED BY: John Zachariassen, Fort Collins Science Center, 4512 McMurry Avenue Fort Collins CO 80525-3400 USA, 970-226-9485 office, 970-226-9230 FAX, john_zachariassen@usgs.gov
RESULTS OF BRD-INITIATED COMMUNICATION (FY98): The air quality issue in Southwestern Wyoming has escalated during the past year. BRD activities have included development of a data report of precipitation chemistry for the United States Forest Service eleven year measurement program in the Wind River Mountains. Preliminary results indicate that measurements for acidic atmospheric gases should be considered for the wilderness area during this fiscal year if funding can be found. Additionally, no trends in the precipitation chemistry data were found. Both of these findings are of use to the BLM and support its BIN needs. The final report now being prepared for the USFS will ultimately be used by all parties in southwest Wyoming, including BLM, in assessment of air quality impact to wilderness resulting from oil and gas minerals development.
Additionally, contacts were made with BLM Wyoming on this issue throughout the year. As a result of these contacts several proposals were made to BLM to place air quality measurement equipment within the Sublette Basin. No money was available to fund any of these proposals, either with BRD or from BLM itself. At present BRD personnel have gathered equipment from other discontinued studies and are working with BLM on determining how this equipment might be placed into operation in support of the BIN. Meetings on this issue were held in Cheyenne and attended by Larry Ludke, Phil Wondra, Don Hunter, Al Riebau, and Mike Sestak on this matter with funding restrictions prohibiting all field work to-date.
For FY 1998 a proposal in the SIS format will be sent to the Regional Office requesting money to further develop air quality measurement techniques requested by BLM. If this proposal is funded at the appropriate level, MESC will begin field studies as BLM requests in this BIN and relate measurements made to computer modeling studies of potential air pollution.
DATE SUBMITTED TO REGIONAL OFFICE: October 31, 1997
PREPARED BY: Don O. Hunter, Fort Collins Science Center, Fort Collins, CO, (970) 226-9382, e-mail don_o_hunter@usgs.gov
U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://biology.usgs.gov/cro/98blm-2.htm
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