The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality will replace a mobile air quality monitoring station in Converse County with a permanent one this month.
The mobile monitor was installed a couple of years ago after heavy oil and gas development occurred in the area, and residents voiced concerns about emissions. Not every county in Wyoming has a monitor. The DEQ uses mobile monitors to check places that don’t have expensive permanent ones, and evaluate whether they need a permanent monitor.
DEQ spokesman Keith Guille says that the agency places monitoring stations in areas that are especially susceptible to pollution. “We have to start with certain aspects,” he says. “We want to see why we want to put that monitor there, whether it’s because of an urban-based area, ore maybe potential impacts from other sources, like in this instance, industry.”
“When we looked at Converse County and with the growth that’s happened in the last few years, with the oil development out there, we certainly saw a good opportunity to not only get some background but then be ready for any type of increased growth in the future.”
Guille says that residents can find air quality data on the DEQ’s website.
