By SUE RYAN
News staff writer
September 27, 2007

While they may not have agreed on exactly how to measure or model the changes to Gorge air, scientists who met in Hood River Wednesday did agree the air quality issue merits serious consideration and study.

Their relevance ties directly to the Columbia River Gorge Commission. The air agencies, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Southwest Clean Air Agency, will present a recommendation for an appropriate Gorge air quality strategy to the full commission in December.

A technical team for the Gorge has been finishing up a modeling component of the studies. The Gorge Science Day was part of that and included reviews and presentations of other studies aside from the formal Gorge Science Summary. The report will look at future trends as well as examining five “what-if” scenarios.

Those are intended to test the significance of source categories, source regions and key emission sources. Where pollution comes from that creates haze was one area of contention.

“Part of what you do is run every model possible and then look at the discrepancies,” said Bill Malm, of the National Park Service. “You need to go back and reconcile … what are two totally different conclusions.”

He was concerned about the absence of certain elements in the study including emission sources from agriculture and wildfires.

For a more detailed report, read the Saturday edition of the Hood River News. To access the air quality reports online, go to http://www.deq.state.or.us/aq/gorgeair/.