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U.S. EPA TO SIGN HISTORIC OWENS LAKE DUST CONTROL PLAN

Release Date: 8/12/1999
Contact Information: So. Calif. & Nev.: Randy Wittorp, (415)744-1589, No. Calif.: Leo Kay (415)744-2201

Media Advisory
   
    Nation's worst dust pollution problem will be cleaned up
                               
SAN FRANCISCO -- On the dry, dusty lakebed of Owens Lake at the base of the Sierra Nevada, U.S. EPA's western Regional Administrator, Felicia Marcus, will give final approval to an historic clean air plan for Owens Valley, plagued for over half a century by dust storms that create the worst particulate air pollution in America.  The plan will end 70 years of conflict between Los Angeles and Owens Valley residents and protect the health of tens of thousands of people who live in a 300 mile swath across eastern California and Nevada.


               DATE & TIME:   Wednesday, August 18, 1999 at 9:30 a.m.

WHO:      Representatives from a variety of stakeholders who helped make possible this historic agreement, including leaders from U.S. EPA, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District, California Air Resources Board, local tribal governments and local municipal governments.

LOCATION: Sulfate Road off Highway 136
          On the Owens Lakebed just south of Keeler

VISUALS:  The event will take place on the salty bottom of Owens Lake below the majestic Sierra Nevada and White Mountains.  Also visible will be the first restoration work to stabilize the lakebed and eliminate dust storms in the future.
                               
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