The Department of Environmental Quality has installed air quality monitors in Casper and Rock Springs.
DEQ Spokesman Keith Guille says they want to find out what pollutants are in the air, and whether they’re occurring at levels that are hazardous to public health.
“It’s important to get a baseline of right now what we’re seeing for air quality,” Guille said. “And then also if we do find some issues, obviously we need to start looking into what may be leading into higher levels of certain constituents.”
Guille says DEQ already has about 30 air quality monitors around the state, and they’re trying to install more, especially in areas with denser population. But he says the monitors are expensive, so they can’t add very many new ones in any given year.