BVEP needs to meet Green LEEDers 

Representatives of the Boise Valley Economic Partnership pulled together a meeting Tuesday to bring awareness to the significance of ozone levels in the Treasure Valley reaching concentrations that could lead to an Environmental Protection Agency designation of “nonattainment.”

  The valley, and Boise in particular, reached possible nonattainment status by exceeding new air quality standards during a three-year average from 2006 to 2008. The EPA standard for acceptable levels of ozone was recently lowered from 85 parts per billion to 75 parts per billion. The Treasure Valley averaged 78 parts per billion between 2005 and 2007, though the three-year average crossed the newly adopted threshold at the end of July.

  Toni Hardesty, director of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, said ozone is created when volatile organic compounds are mixed with nitrogen oxide then baked with sunlight to create ozone. She said automobile emissions contribute 50 percent of the nitrogen oxide to make the ozone cocktail. Construction contributes another estimated 10 percent.

  Why does BVEP care? Because it can have a major impact on economic development, land use planning, planned development and construction.

  BVEP wants to encourage citizens to take a proactive approach to reducing the ozone level to put us back into attainment status. If citizens get behind a movement to improve air quality by making radical changes in transportation habits and other methods to clean the air, it may be able to illustrate that more drastic measures may not be needed.

  We’ll run a more extensive story in the weekly edition of our newspaper, but here are some things businesses can do right now that will improve the air:

Encourage employees to carpool, vanpool, use public transportation such as a bus, or bike or walk to work;

Allow telecommuting and flexible workplace hour options for employees such as a four-day, 10-hour workweek;

Encourage cities to implement a no-idling policy;

Alter landscaping to minimize lawn mowing.

  We should all care about clean air. We should all care about guidelines set by the EPA because they affect the long-term health of our bodies despite our social or political persuasions.

  I spoke at a Green LEEDers meeting last week in Boise. Besides constructing buildings that are environmentally sound, the group, sponsored by the US Green Building Council Idaho Chapter , promotes using sustainable growth techniques that actually improve the water and air quality of their community. Members of the green movement are often evangelistic and can turn off the business community. I thought I might be walking into an ambush, but I found this group to be very understanding of those of us who are recent – if not partial – converts to the green movement.

  What would be great is to get these two groups together – including the DEQ – to work on a common cause. We need to all become evangelistic about improving our air quality. And a good start would be to embrace and welcome advice from people who already have the religion.

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