Air regulators to audit Navajo equipment

Posted at: 08/18/2009 8:20 AM
By: The Associated Press

FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) - The New Mexico Environment Department will test air monitoring equipment at five locations on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico and Arizona at the request of the tribe.

The review will ensure the sites take accurate air quality samples.

The state agency will check air quality monitoring equipment at Shiprock and Crownpoint in New Mexico and at Tuba City, Fort Defiance and Nazlini in Arizona.

The sites are maintained by the Navajo Environmental Protection Agency, which does independent studies of air quality on the reservation.

A Navajo EPA environmental program supervisor, Charlene Nelson, says the annual review of the air monitoring sites will double-check quality control work that's already been done.

She says a third-party review ensures reliable measurements.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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