AQAC MINUTES September 6, 2016

Members/alternates present: Beth Berlin, Bert Chessin, Bill Flanery, Guy Hanson, Jan Hoem, Kathy Tonnessen, Martin Twer, John Ottman, Don Anderson, Garon Smith

Members/alternates absent: Dave Atkins, Ronni Flannery, Sue Spanke, Russ Thomas

Staff: Sarah Coefield

Public: Jim Habeck, Harold Hoem

1. Bert Chessin called the meeting to order 2. Excused absences recognized – Sue Spanke, Dave Atkins, Ronni Flannery and Russ Thomas were excused 3. New member introductions Bert Chessin welcomed Don Anderson to the Council. 4. Agenda approved. 5. July minutes were approved with typo corrections. 6. Public comment on non-agenda items Jim Habeck referenced a Missoulian article that featured Steve Running, a climate change researcher at the University of Montana. Habeck said he can’t get Running to soften on the fact that population is part of the climate change problem. Habeck said he’s concerned about the population’s carbon footprint and he’d like to see an air quality minor to accompany the climate change minor at the university.

Jan Hoem announced she would be stepping down from her position as a regular voting member due to multiple upcoming and previous absences. She said she will pull back for now and perhaps come back as an alternate. She said that during her more than 10 years with the Council, she has never met a more civil or intelligent group of people. She said in the past few years, the Council has been very active and courageous, always with an eye to protecting Missoulians’ health. She said serving on the Council has been an honor and she may come back.

Kathy Tonnesson said she would like Jan to come back. She said Jan has been a leader of the group and pushed them to do things they didn’t expect to do.

Bert Chessin also encouraged Jan to come back when she is able.

7. Article presentation Sarah Coefield presented articles about a recent study that looked at magnetite pollution nanoparticles found in human brain tissue. The study, “Magnetite pollution nanoparticles in the human brain” by Barbara Maher et al, was published ahead of print on September 6, 2016 in the early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The articles (“Pollution particles ‘get into brain’’ from BBC News and “Industrial air pollution leaves magnetic waste in the brain” from Science) provided discussions about the research and examined potential links to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

The study examined brain tissue from Mexico City and Manchester, UK residents. While magnetite particles can occur naturally in the brain in tiny quantities, the natural magnetite has a distinctly different shape from the industrial magnetite identified in brain tissue in the study. In addition, the study found that industrial magnetite was more numerous in the brain than naturally occurring magnetite.

Industrial magnetite nanoparticles are less than 200 nm in diameter and can enter the brain directly via the olfactory bulb. Because the particles are made out of iron (which is very reactive), there is the potential for magnetite particles to cause oxidative damage to brain tissue.

Sarah told the group that it seems like the more air quality is studied, the more consequences we find.

Beth Berlin said we already know methylmercury is bad. The question is more, why not also this pollutant being bad, rather than why is it bad.

Jan Hoem pointed out the articles don’t even talk about fetal impacts.

Kathy Tonnessen asked what other types of nanomaterials/particles may be getting into the brain.

Don Anderson spoke about quantum dots – various metals (e.g. cadmium, transition metals) are fluorescent and were tracked by a research group in California. They found there can be direct transition of these metals by neurons into the brain.

Bert Chessin asked about the transport process for neurons.

Don said no one really knows. He said there are mechanisms for up-taking neurotransmitters, and the process may be along those lines. He said most of the particles he’s worked with are smaller than 20 nm, and can penetrate membranes. The larger magnetite particles (~200 nm) would need to be transmitted to reach brain tissue. He said it will be interesting to see if someone can tease out the transmission mechanism.

8. Presentation: The Chemistry of Combustion Garon Smith donned his wizard cap and gave the Council a presentation about combustion chemistry, including a live demonstration of different flame colors and effects.

Following the presentation, the group chatted about flame retardant and methods of aerial ignition.

The group also discussed the upcoming field trip to look at burn piles in the Marshall Woods Restoration Project.

9. Staff report Sarah Coefield gave the staff report. Prescribed wildland and essential agriculture burning will open on September 7th. She said it was a quiet wildfire season in Missoula and fire danger has been falling. She has started working on oxyfuels for the year.

Ben is working on industry stuff.

10. Public comment Jim Habeck said he was thrown off by the fact that the air quality reported at the particulate monitors didn’t line up with what he saw as far as visibility and the volatile organic chemicals in the air during wildfire season. He said the monitors should display more than particulate matter.

11. Select AQAC representative for next Air Board meeting update Sarah Coefield will give the update at the next Air Board meeting.

12. Announcements, other business None.

13. Adjourn