The 2008 Air Quality Trends in the Southwest Forum took place on June 4, 2008 at the Westward Look Resort in Tucson.  We had 41 participants from the Southwest to discuss air quality trends, measurements and issues facing areas generally experiencing rapid growth.  The focus of this year’s forum was particulate matter and ozone in Arizona and recent work on climate change.  This forum was particularly timely because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently promulgated new primary and secondary ozone standards that will likely place the Tucson region into nonattainment. 

The following presentations were included during the 2008 Air Quality in the Southwest Forum: 

Monitoring, data and trends

• Ben Davis, Maricopa County Air Quality Department, Monitoring plans for Maricopa County (1,730KB PDF)
• Kale Walch, Scott DiBiase and Mike Sundblom, Pinal County, Pinal County ozone and particulate matter (PM10) issues (559KB PDF)
• Teresa Sobolewski, Pima County Department of Environmental Quality, Pima County monitoring updates (340KB PDF)
• Dennis Pagano, EPA on detail to American Indian Policy Institute at ASU, Joint Air Toxics Assessment Project (132KB PDF)

Tracking pollutants, regional haze and ozone

• Taejoo Shin, Maricopa Association of Governments, Eight-hour ozone maintenance plan modeling protocol (316KB PDF)
• Jo Crumbaker, Maricopa County Air Quality Department, Ozone and particulate challenges in Maricopa County (329KB PDF)
• Lee Alter, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, Regional haze update for Arizona (22KB PDF)
• Colleen McKaughan and Wienke Tax, EPA Region 9, Brief introduction to the new ozone standard and the State Implementation Plan process (329KB PDF)

Climate Change/Greenhouse Gases

• Joe Abraham, University of Arizona, Global climate change and its implications for the Southwest (4,698KB PDF)
• Lee Alter, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, State and regional activities to limit greenhouse gas emissions (689KB PDF)
• Sue Cotty, Pima Association of Governments, Tucson region greenhouse gas emissions inventory overview (271KB PDF)

Particulate Matter

• Reneta Dimitrova and George Runger, Arizona State University, Children’s Health Project: Linking PM10 to asthma in central Phoenix (1,508KB PDF)
• Eric Betterton, University of Arizona, Brief update on current and future work on particulates (1,641KB PDF)
• Peter Hyde, Arizona State University, Particulate matter by day of week; Yuma, AZ & San Luis, Sonora air pollutant concentrations (1,904KB PDF) 

• Past Forum Presentations