Air News Archives

Gov. Bobby Jindal has declared May as Air Quality Awareness Month in Louisiana. May is traditionally the start of ozone season and the proclamation was made to encourage citizens to become familiar with the Air Quality Index, to understand what causes ozone formation and to take voluntary steps to help prevent the formation and improve air quality.

In May, the Enviroschool program of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality is offering free workshops on Permits 101: Understanding the Basics. This workshop will give participants an understanding of what permits are, the different types of permits and the permitting process within each media - air, water and waste.

The American Lung Association's State of the Air report was released today and demonstrates the improvement in air quality throughout Louisiana. Several cities were listed as cleanest in the nation for particle pollution, known as PM 2.5, with Monroe-Bastrop listed as one of the top seven cleanest cities in the nation for PM 2.5 and ozone combined.

May is Air Quality Awareness Month and the start of ozone season. This is the time of year when knowing about air quality is most important because of the increased possibility of ozone formation on hot, dry summer days. An easy way to keep informed about air quality is through the EnviroFlash notification system. EnviroFlash is a free e-mail alert system that delivers air quality information straight to an inbox or phone. To subscribe, citizens can fill in basic information such as the frequency with which they would like to receive notifications, e-mail address and ZIP code. The subscriber will then receive alerts either daily or when ozone or particle pollution is expected to be unhealthy. Another benefit to subscribing to EnviroFlash is that DEQ will send out manual emails to subscribers when there is an event such as a fire that affects the air quality.

Peggy Hatch, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, and Senator Mike Walsworth, chair of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee, presented an EPA grant to the University of Louisiana at Monroe today in Monroe. Dr. Nick J. Bruno, president of ULM, and Dr. Kevin Baer, principal investigator and toxicology department chair, accepted the grant.

Today, Secretary Peggy Hatch of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality was joined by Senator Mike Walsworth, chair, Senate Environmental Quality Committee, to recognize environmental achievements at the 2012 Environmental Leadership Program Awards ceremony. New and existing members of ELP were commended for their voluntary pollution prevention efforts, community environmental education and outreach initiatives. The ceremony highlighted projects that went above and beyond regulatory compliance to substantially improve the quality of the environment. In 2012, the ELP enrolled 15 new members.

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Air Permitting Division is hosting a meeting at DEQ Headquarters, tomorrow at 10 a.m. DEQ headquarters is located at 602 N. 5th Street in Baton Rouge. Interested parties are invited to attend

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has recently launched an online suggestion form for use by the public for the purpose of submitting ideas to the department.