Air Quality
Management
We have the inherent authority to protect Cherokee air quality for the benefit of future generations
Clean air quality contributes to a healthy environment and healthy people
The air shed of the EBCI Reservation receives trans-boundary ozone and it’s precursors from upwind sources. This, combined with a general degradation of air quality, lends us to commit significant resources in monitoring our air conditions. As a Sovereign Nation, education, awareness, prevention, and mitigation of air pollution are critical to the EBCI culture.
Our goal is to maintain clean and healthy air quality for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Reservation. The Air Quality Program started monitoring in 1999 and currently consists of two employees who are dedicated to EBCI air quality issues. We are funded by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under section 105 of the Clean Air Act (CAA).
Reasons for Having an Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Program
- To know the air pollution levels on a day to day basis, and to allow proper notifications/warnings about associated health effects.
- To observe pollution trends locally and throughout the region.
- To sustain natural resources for cultural, food and artisan uses.
- To monitor the effects of the increase in motor vehicle traffic in the area due to tourism, general population growth and development.
Barnett Knob Monitoring Station
Environmental Office Monitoring Station
(Established 2000) – pollutants monitored: filter base Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM2.5).
Old High School Monitoring Station
Tribal Environmental Exchange Network
(Trex) site
This is our Tribal Environmental Exchange Network (TREX) site, which is a web-based, automated system for collecting, validating, and reporting monitoring data. TREX also allows the public to view close to real-time data by clicking here.
Select the Monitoring Site drop-down menu and find Cams 5 or Cams 6 to view EBCI stations. View hourly averages for all the pollutants and meteorological conditions measured by the TREX at each monitoring site. Select the monitoring site you are interested in from the list below. All data that is collected at that monitoring site will be displayed. Please note that not all parameters are measured at all sites.
EPA Region 4 and Cherokee Making a Visible Difference Story Map
Contact Air Quality Staff
For a complete staff directory click here.
%
World's population breathing unsafe air
Monitoring Stations on Qualla Boundary
Number of chemicals in pollution that age skin
Number of deaths per year from pollution by 2050
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