The Forest City air monitoring station lies near a secondary lead smelter owned by Exide Technologies. Since the mid-1970s, employees at the Cannon Hollow Plant have extracted lead from lead batteries to refine it and make it reusable. The state-operated monitor helps determine exposure to airborne lead from the smelter for a segment of the population.
From 1996 to 2000, the site was known as Schuylkill Metals-West, or the levee site. The EPA ID was the same as today's Forest City site. Monitoring ceased in 2000. The department reactivated the monitor in response to EPA monitoring regulations, 2008-2010.
Pollutants
Lead
The primary and secondary ambient air standards for lead have remained at 0.15 micrograms per cubic meter since 2008. The primary standard reflects EPA's concern for public health while the second standard demonstrates concern for public welfare. EPA bases the standard on the highest rolling three-month average over a period of three years and two months. A monitoring site meets the standard when this rolling three-month average is less than or equal to 0.15 μg/m3.
Departmental information about lead
- Health effects
- Missouri's lead legacy
- 2008 standard and pertinent documents
- Three-month average lead concentrations for the most recent 12 months
- State map with monitors for lead in ambient air
Technical issues can affect ability to deliver quality data. Access a table of symbols with explanation of the problems they represent.
300 S. Washington St
Oregon, MO 64473
United States
Air Pollution Control Program
Division of Environmental Quality
P.O. Box 176
Jefferson City, MO 65102-0176
United States