CMCOG to Host Air Quality Forum

Click here to download the June 25, 2008 Air Quality Forum Agenda

Power Point Presentations:

LMC Air Quality Improvement Initiative

The Challenges of Being Located in a Ozone Non Attainment Area

New Ozone  NAAQS...

Take a Break from Exhaust

The Midlands of South Carolina faces a potential air quality crisis. Over the past year, representatives from entities across the Midlands have been coming together to exchange information and ideas to improve our air quality. Now we need your help. The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, on March 12 lowered the federal standard for ground level ozone. Failing to meet this standard could likely push the Midlands into what is called a “non-attainment status.” For local businesses and organizations, this can have a variety of negative impacts. Nonattainment can limit production capabilities of existing industries and preclude siting of new industries. Nonattainment can also mean stricter requirements on spending of federal highway funding. It is also costly and time-consuming to develop and implement plans to regain attainment status. The Midlands Air Quality Forum meeting on June 25 -- presented by the Central Midlands Council of Governments, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control and the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce -- will be an opportunity for businesses and organizations to learn more about the federal air quality standards, what violation of those standards can mean, and most importantly, what your business or organization can do to help our area meet those standards.

The time of the forum is 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM on June 25, 2008 and will be located at the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce, Palmetto Room, 930 Richland Street, Columbia, SC.

If you are interested in participating in the forum and you are a representative from a municipal government located within our seven-county region (Calhoun, Fairfield, Kershaw, Lexington, Newberry, Richland, and Saluda Counties), please complete the online registration form at www.centralmidlands.org/aqform.asp by Friday, June 20, 2008.  If you would like more information about the forum or general information about improving air quality, please contact Aaron Bell, Chief Transportation Planner, at abell@centralmidlands.org.

Thank you for helping to make the Central Midlands region a better place to live, play, and work.