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<br />• The project area has very good air quality. Air quality monitoring associated with <br />oil shale development at the Ca and Cb oil shale tracts near the Piceance Site <br />indicated that the concentrations of most measured criteria pollutants are within <br />acceptable ranges (BLM 1982). A periodic exception is that suspended particulate <br />levels may be elevated, as is expected in a windy, semi-arid climate such as that of <br />the Piceance Creek Basin and Parachute Creek valley. Dust levels tend to be related <br />to wind speed and, to some degree, season. The lowest particulate levels occur <br />during the winter, when snow cover, freezing conditions, and decreased activity <br />limit the amount of fugitive dust. <br />Ozone (O,) levels in the Rocky Mountain West are relatively high, but are of <br />unknown origin. Elevated concentrations may be a result of long-range transport <br />from urban areas, subsidence of stratospheric O„ or photochemical reactions with <br />natural hydrocarbons. Occasional peak concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO) and <br />sulfur dioxide (SO,) may be found in the immediate vicinity of fuel-burning <br />equipment (BLM 1994). <br />The region is currently classified as an "attainment area" for all criteria air pollutant <br />standards. Representative area monitoring for total suspended particulate matter <br />(TSP), SOZ, nitrogen dioxide (NOZ), O„ and CO occurred extensively between 1979 <br />and 1985 at the Cb oi] shale tract Site 023 monitoring station located about 12 miles <br />south-southeast of the Piceance Site. More recent data have not been collected in <br />• the area. Table 7-6 presents the annual mean and second-highest short-term <br />concentrations measured at Cb oil shale tract Site 023 monitoring station (CDPHE <br />1996). The National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) are shown in Table <br />7-6 for comparison. The short-term (24-hour or less) NAAQS are not to be exceeded <br />more than once a year. Representative quarterly air quality monitoring data from <br />the Unocal Parachute Creek shale oil program for November 1990 through October <br />1991 are presented in Table 7-7. <br />7.6 VEGETATION <br />Six plant communities occurring within the Piceance Site were described and <br />mapped in the BLM Sodium Leases FEA (BLM 1982). That document contains the <br />most site-specific information on the vegetation types of the Piceance Site. <br />Information on vegetation types occurring along the proposed project pipeline <br />corridor has been taken from the environmental assessments for two natural gas <br />pipelines that the project pipeline corridor will largely parallel (Barrett 1994, CIG <br />1995). Additional information on local plant communities is presented in the <br />BLM's White River Resource Area Draft Resource Management Plan and <br />Environmental Impact Statement (BLM 1994). <br />• <br />American Soda, L.L.P. 7-30 <br />Commeraal Mine Plan <br />August 1R, 1998 <br />