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Community Air Action Planning

Communities in Oregon are eager to learn more about what is in the air they breathe and to develop local strategies to improve air quality. To support this, DEQ has developed the Community Air Action Planning pilot program to begin improving local air quality in historically overburdened areas through a collaborative process of community-led action. 

The CAAP project will be completed in three phases over the course of three years. Phase One will take place from July 2023-January 2024. This phase will consist of developing the CAAP framework with partners from across the state. The outcome from Phase One will be a publicly available framework that will be used to guide the program as well as a method for communities to express interest in participating in the program.​

Phase Two will take place from February-June 2024. This phase will consist of selecting four communities that will participate in the CAAP program. More information on this phase of the project will be shared following Phase One. ​

Phase Three will take place from July 2024-June 2026. This phase will consist of implementing community-level air monitoring in four communities. More information on this phase will be shared during Phase Two.​

The air we breathe has a major impact on our health. DEQ has a range of regulatory programs (e.g. legally binding programs such as air quality permits for industrial facilities and Cleaner Air Oregon) and non-regulatory programs (e.g. incentive programs such as the Oregon Clean Vehicle Rebate Program and Diesel Emissions Mitigation Grants program) designed to reduce air pollution and improve air quality to support healthy communities. 

Even with these programs, there are communities across the Oregon that frequently experience unhealthy air quality. There are a variety of complex reasons why these communities may regularly breathe unhealthy air and there are often no simple or clear potential solutions that would benefit these communities. 

For these communities facing complex air quality challenges, CAAP is a program designed to do two things: develop an understanding of the localized air quality challenge and design potential solutions with the community in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.​

CAAP will need several volunteers in the community to conduct air monitoring. Please review the following documents to learn more about the monitoring needs and requirements.

​​Air monitoring is currently going on in Rockwood/Wilkes East as of Dec. 11, 2024. Below are resources for monitor hosts and community members.​

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