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From YouTube: News Update - 2017 Ozone Season Kickoff
Description
The annual Ozone Season Kickoff event serves to teach about the historic successes and current challenges to improving air quality in our region. For the 2017 Kickoff, speakers addressed the 2016 wildfires, the successes of the Clean Vehicles Coalition, and more! If you are interested in learning more, contact the Land of Sky Regional Council at www.landofsky.org or call 828.251.6622.
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For more information about Buncombe County Government, visit http://www.buncombecounty.org/.
A
Good
afternoon
I'm
Ashley
Featherstone
with
Western
North,
Carolina
Regional
air
quality
agency,
where
the
local
air
pollution
control
program
here
in
Buncombe,
County
and
today
we're
doing
our
annual
ozone
season.
Kickoff
event
and
ground-level
ozone
is
a
pollutant
that
we're
concerned
about
here
in
North
Carolina,
and
so
we
start
monitoring
for
that
pollutant
every
year
in
March,
it
used
to
be
April
through
October,
but
this
year
we're
actually
starting
a
month
early.
A
So
we
wanted
to
have
this
event
to
get
the
word
out,
that
ozone
is
a
summertime
pollutant,
two
main
pollutants
that
we're
confirmed
with
our
ozone
and
fine
particles,
and
we've
seen
big
reductions
in
those
pollutants
and
the
outdoor
air
here
in
the
last
few
years.
So
that's
really
good
news.
We
also
have
some
information
to
share
today
about
the
wildfires
that
we
had
in
Western
North
Carolina
back
in
November
of
2016
I'm.
B
Bill
Jackson
and
I'm,
with
the
u.s.
Forest
Service
and
today
I'll
be
talking
about
the
November
wildfires
and
how
we
did
our
air
quality
analysis
in
terms
of
predicting
where
the
smoke
would
go
and
forecasting
for
communities
how
bad
the
air
pollution
could
be
from
the
fine
particles
that
were
released
from
those
wildfires
with
the
wildfires
and
even
when
we
look
at
prescribed
fires
normally
day-to-day.
That
type
of
air
pollution
is
called
fine
particles
and
they're,
pretty
constant
from
one
day
to
the
next.
B
But
when
we
have
wildfires,
especially
when
we
have
lots
of
wildfires,
those
concentrations
go
much
higher
than
we
normally
record
matter
of
fact.
We
consider
them
hazardous
at
times,
and
so
we
use
a
portable
equipment
because
the
stationary
equipments
are
only
in
certain
places
and
we
use
atmospheric
modeling.
So
we
figure
out
how
much
pollution
is
going
to
be
released
into
the
atmosphere,
how
high
it
will
be
released.
And
then
we
predict
downwind,
where
the
concentrations
will
be
the
highest
and
are
there
any
communities
could
be
impacted.
C
Bill
acre
with
Linda
sky
Regional
Council
of
Governments
here
in
Asheville
and
I
serve
as
the
coordinator
of
the
regional
clean
air
campaign
and
also
the
coordinator
of
the
land
of
sky,
clean
vehicles
coalition.
Our
clean
vehicles
coalition
promotes
the
use
of
alternative
fuel
vehicles
and
advanced
technology
vehicles
as
a
vehicles
that
run
on
biodiesel,
propane
natural
gas,
gas-electric
hybrids
and
plug-in
vehicles
like
the
electric
vehicles
that
are
out
now
and
very
popular,
and
we
track
what
different
fleets
and
entities
in
the
region
are
doing
to.
C
You
know
convert
to
these
fuels
and
technologies,
and
the
great
news
is
that
we're
doing
really
well
and
in
2016
we
surpassed
displacing
1
million
gallons
of
petroleum
gas
and
diesel
during
that
year.
That's
the
first
time
that
we
had
hit
1
million
gallons,
also
we're
reducing
tons
of
greenhouse
gases
in
the
process,
so
we're
using
domestic
fuels,
which
is
great
help
us
get
all
foreign
oil
and
reducing
emissions
that
keep
the
air
clean
and
help
with
climate
change
and,
in
many
cases
creating
jobs
on
the
green
economy.