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.
