The mission of the CAAQES is to provide the research, technology transfer, and educational programs that will
result in appropriate regulation of agricultural operations, rapid adoption of new air pollution abatement
technology, as well as increase the number of graduates pursuing careers in environmental air quality fields.
The concept of the CAAQES is that faculty will conduct research and develop adult educational programs for
technology transfer, and course work for both undergraduates and graduate students. The research results
will serve as the science and engineering base for the appropriate regulation of air pollution.
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- Enhance national and international program visibility
- Encourage strategic planning
- Develop, strengthen and expand Agricultural Program expertise
and resources
- Leverage existing A&M System strengths, including interdisciplinary
relationships
- Foster scientific excellence
- Increase competitive funding
- Enhance information dissemination
- Serve as the source of graduates for careers in environmental air
quality
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Agricultural operations are economically and technically challenged to comply with the increasingly stringent
state air pollution regulatory demands related to permitting, enforcement, and compliance with the Federal Clean Air Act.
Permitting issues include controversy associated with Federal Operating Permits for major and non-major sources involving
pollutant emission rates and inventories for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs); cotton gins; grain elevators;
feed and oil mills; field operations; and agricultural burning. Enforcement problems are affected by measurement accuracy,
use of inaccurate dispersion models, and the lack of accurate emission factors and measurement methodologies.
Compliance issues are associated with abatement strategies, cost of compliance, defining and quantifying reductions
associated with Best Management Practices (BMPs) and Best Available Control Technologies (BACTs). Compliance with air
pollution regulations often results in inappropriate and unfair regulation of agricultural operations. The results of
inappropriate regulation are financial stress that threatens the economic viability of rural communities. There is a
clear need for science-based research results to address agricultural air quality problems and to provide appropriate
regulatory procedures to be used by regulatory agencies.
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The CAAQES will accomplish its goals by addressing a wide range of research, extension, and teaching objectives including,
but not limited to, the following:
- Develop particulate matter
(PM) data bases that characterize PM emitted by CAFO, field operations,
cotton gins, grain elevators, mills, and agricultural burning
- Improve and refine
dispersion modeling technology for particulate matter (PM), hydrogen
sulfide (H2S), ammonia (NH3), volatile organic compounds (VOC), nitrogen
oxides (NOx), and odor
- Design and develop
economically feasible air pollution (particulate matter and odor)
abatement systems
- Develop accurate emission
factors and inventories for odor and gases emitted from agricultural
operations
- Develop improved methods to
estimate PM emission rates and emission factors based on scientific
understanding of the processes and release mechanisms
- Determine the relationship
between ammonia and secondary PM2.5 formation
- Provide educational programs
at WTAMU and TAMU for undergraduate and graduate students that will
facilitate careers in air quality engineering and science; and
- Provide training and
technology transfer for agricultural producers, scientists, regulatory
agencies, and the public.
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Click here to
download the CAAQES Proposal
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