From power plants to paper mills, quarries to crematoriums –
every year companies across North Carolina pump millions of
pounds of chemicals and particulates into the atmosphere. And no
matter where you are in North Carolina, one thing remains
constant – you’ve got to pay to pollute. Most air polluters in
the state pay for their emissions with permits, and sometimes
fines, from the North Carolina Department of Environmental and
Natural Resources Division of Air Quality. But there are three
places in the state where air quality isn’t regulated from
agency headquarters in Raleigh, and one of those places is
Buncombe County. In Buncombe County, the Western North Carolina
Regional Air Quality Agency monitors air quality and enforces
state and federal air quality standards. The other two local
regulating agencies in North Carolina are in Mecklenburg and
Forsyth counties. Ashley Featherstone, engineering supervisor
for WNCRAQA, said the Buncombe County agency actually predates
the state Division of Air Quality and