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I am being impacted by dust and it is causing property damage or creating a health problem. What can I do about it?

Throughout Washington State, it is the responsibility of the owner or operator of a source of dust to ensure that dust does not move off property to impact others. WAC 173-400-040 (8)(a) states that:

"The owner of operator of a source of fugitive dust shall take reasonable precautions to prevent fugitive dust from becoming airborne and shall maintain and operate the source to minimize emissions."

In order do begin the enforcement process, it is very important that the BCAA receives a complaint for the person being impacted. You can use out on-line complaint form, or call in your complaint to the BCAA office. This will later help the BCAA to identify and contact the source owner or operator. Upon receiving your complaint, one of the BCAA Inspectors will contact the owner or operator of the source of dust. In many cases, contact by the BCAA will encourage the source owner or operator to control the dust. If the problem does not resolve itself to your satisfaction, we need to know. Once the source owner or operator has been informed on the regulations and has chosen not to follow them, the BCAA can increase enforcement efforts. If previous complaints have been received the BCAA may issue a Notice of Correction (OC) or a Notice of Violation (NOV). The OC outlines a specific list of requirements that the source must take to avoid a penalty. The NOV is essentially a ticket for violating the fugitive dust regulation. Penalties of up to $10,000 per day can also be assessed.