Darrington’s program to reduce its wood smoke has the attention of more than just a handful of state and federal air quality regulators.
About 400 air quality officials from across the nation stood and applauded after two Darrington High School students explained the program at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality Conference Feb. 6 in San Antonio.
“I didn’t expect to get a standing ovation,” Briana Monte Calvo, 17, said. “We got a lot of attention.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had that much attention in my life,” Rebecca DiMaggio, 14, said.
The reaction was more than just bureaucrats excited to see young people speaking their language, said Mike Gilroy, the air quality forecaster from the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency who worked with the students on their presentation.
“Here’s a community identifying a problem and actually going to action steps in advance of being regulated for it,” Gilroy said.
Plus, the students did a great job presenting highly technical information in simpler terms, he said.
“They just hit it out of the park,” Gilroy said.
Chet Wayland of the U.S. EPA, agreed.
“All of this technical work and the monitoring doesn’t mean anything if we can’t communicate it,” Wayland said.
Wayland wasn’t the only one impressed at the conference.
“We had two or three people say to us, ‘In five, seven or 10 years, you can come ask us and we’ll give you a job,’” DiMaggio said.
Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@ heraldnet.com.
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