EPA proposes splitting off North Pole and finding Fairbanks meets fine-particle standard

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday proposed splitting the Fairbanks North Star Borough's fine-particle pollution zone in two and finding that the Fairbanks and Goldstream Valley portion now meets the federal standard.

North Pole's air quality data "remains above" the 2006 standard for fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, the agency said in the proposed rule. The EPA also proposed finding that neither area contributes to violations in the other.

If finalized, that clean-data finding would relieve the state of drafting an attainment demonstration, progress plans, milestone reports and contingency measures for Fairbanks and Goldstream Valley for as long as the area keeps meeting the standard. Both new areas would stay classified as Serious nonattainment. The line between them follows burn-ban zones the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation drew in 2016.

The standard is 35 micrograms per cubic meter, measured as a three-year average of each year's 98th-percentile daily reading. For 2023 to 2025, that design value is 35 at the A Street monitor and 34 at the downtown NCore monitor, including summer wildfire smoke. With state-flagged wildfire days removed, A Street drops to 25 and NCore to 24, according to the proposal.

"This proposed action recognizes the improvements in air quality and will help stabilize the cost of energy, ensuring the area is able to thrive environmentally and economically," EPA Region 10 Administrator Emma Pokon said in an agency announcement. She said the agency would look to help North Pole reach attainment next.

Portions of the borough have been out of compliance since 2009. The EPA reclassified the area as Serious in 2017 after it missed the Moderate deadline, and in 2020 found it had missed the Serious deadline too. In November 2025 the agency approved the state's revised plan with an attainment date of Dec. 31, 2027.

The state's own proposal to split the zone has hearings Nov. 17 in Fairbanks and Nov. 18 in North Pole, with written comments due Nov. 30.

Comments on the federal proposal are due 30 days after its Nov. 16 Federal Register publication.

The proposal would not change the federal PM2.5 standard, and on its own it would not move the area out of nonattainment. That requires a later state redesignation request and maintenance plan. The suspended planning requirements would be permanently discharged upon redesignation, or would return if the EPA determines the area has violated the standard again.