Sequim Gazette staff

Sequim residents enjoy good, healthy air.

That’s the word from Fran McNair, the executive director of the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency, who provided the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce with an update on her agency’s activities during a luncheon meeting Tuesday, June 11.

McNair said a new monitor, installed in the Clallam County Fire District No. 3 station in Sequim earlier this year, shows the city has excellent air quality.

But, she added, three months is too brief a time to provide conclusive data. The worst air quality issues arise in winter, she said, and are mostly due to wood stoves.

McNair said she anticipates the Nippon biomass generator in Port Angeles is on schedule for a fall start-up, and that the monitors now in place in Port Angeles and Sequim will be able to provide sound before-and-after air quality data.

She said the biomass burner isn’t a target of her agency. The purpose of the current “saturation study” is to test the ambient air quality in Clallam County to ensure the air is healthy. If an issue arises, ORCAA staffers will seek out the source and work with its owner toward remediation.