ASSOCIATED PRESS
BUTTE – Health
officials have conducted a report evaluating air quality in a southwest Montana neighborhood
to determine if material in the air exceeded permitted air quality standards.
The health
consultation evaluated air quality in Butte from March to September 2019 for
particulate matter and metals, the “Montana Standard “reported. The
report is under scientific review and is expected to be made available to the
city once completed.
The report
was led by the state Department of Public Health and Human Services under an
agreement program with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry,
which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Ambient air
quality collected at the former Greeley Elementary School near
the Montana Resources mine was analyzed in the report, state
epidemiologist Laura Williamson said.
“We were
hearing from the community that ambient air quality is a concern, and the
health department has data but not the technical expertise to analyze the data,
so we stepped in,” Williamson said. The state partnered with the agency to
produce a brief report of the analysis.
