Nearly $3 million of Environmental Protection Agency money is going towards reducing wintertime air pollution across Oakridge and Westfir.
Travis Knudsen of the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency said those places are called “nonattainment” areas, given their frequent use of wood burning stoves in a geographically enclosed area during winter.
“Nonattainment means that they are not meeting federal air quality standards set in 2006," Knudsen told KLCC. "So it’s a little bit of extra money that’s set aside for these communities, so they can do important work to improve air quality in their area so that way they can meet those standards and fall below them.”
This latest award builds on a 2019 grant which uses weatherization and stove upgrades, and ductless heat pump installations to limit pollution.
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