DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson says state has met EPA air-quality standards every day for 10 years

Reid Wilson, secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality, marked Air Quality Awareness Week at a state air-monitoring station and said the state has met Environmental Protection Agency health-based air-quality standards every day for the past 10 years.

"Because of a lot of hard work and common sense actions, our state, for 10 years running now, every single day, has met the health-based air quality standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency," Wilson said, speaking at a monitoring site run by the Division of Air Quality.

Wilson said the Division operates more than 50 monitors around the state that track ozone, fine particulate matter and hazardous air pollutants. He told listeners the agency posts nearly real-time data online so residents can check air quality where they live.

The announcement framed air quality as a public-health and economic concern. Wilson said clean air is "basic to our health" and told listeners the monitoring system provides the evidence that the state meets federal health-based standards.

No formal votes, motions or follow-up directives were recorded in the remarks; the event was a public announcement tied to Air Quality Awareness Week.