Client: Puget Sound Clean Air Agency

Served as facilitator of a 22-member stakeholder task force of community leaders, elected officials and residents in the Pierce County area that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had designated as being in nonattainment of the federal standard for fine particle air pollution. Task force was charged with developing recommendations for ways to reduce this pollution that would be acceptable to the local community and meet federal standards. Prepared: work plan and schedule; list of potential stakeholder candidates; summary of initial discussions with task force members; written charge, and roles and responsibilities of task force members; meeting ground rules; evaluation criteria and evaluation tool; task force meeting  agendas and summaries (11 meetings); draft and final report. Organized and staffed subcommittees. Worked with staff to plan meeting topics and materials, and to identify concerns to be addressed. Assisted with public outreach, including two public meetings. The task force reviewed information about pollution sources and impacts, and identified and evaluated potential solutions. (2011)

Results: The task force unanimously approved the final report. The agency used this report to make recommendations to the state Department of Ecology, which then responded to the U.S. EPA. In February 2015, the EPA recognized the area’s progress in improving air quality, redesignating its status as “in attainment” of federal air quality standards.