Staff spotlight on Matt Davis 

Matt and his family at Joshua Tree National Park For October, DEQ turns the spotlight on Matt Davis. Matt joined the agency in 2017 and served in several positions, including managing air quality teams in Headquarters and Northwest Region, and spending several years representing DEQ at the Oregon Legislature as a Senior Legislative and PolicyContinue reading “Staff spotlight on Matt Davis “

Aaron Borisenko in DEQ’s Lab nominated for public service award

DEQ’s own Aaron Borisenko has been nominated for a 2022 Public Service Recognition Week Award for his work as part of the interagency Wildfire Science Team. The team is up for the Interagency Excellence Team Award category, which honors cross-agency collaboration, stakeholder engagement and innovative approaches to intractable problems.

Air Quality Awareness Week: How do I make my air quality data count?

It’s Air Quality Awareness Week and the DEQ Laboratory and Environmental Assessment Division (You may know us as “The Lab”) thought it a great time to address one of the most common questions we receive: What is the difference between air quality data collected by DEQ and that collected by people with low-cost sensors? As scientists, we might frame the question as so: How do I collect data of known quality?

Youth Innovation in Air Quality

It’s Air Quality Awareness Week and National Wildfire Awareness Month, so… we’ve got a really cool episode. We’re talking with Richard Deng, a freshman in high school, who after experiencing a series of smoky summers decided to dedicate his time to making an air quality prediction tool that has now won multiple science fair awards.

Ep. 10 – Environmental Justice

To celebrate Earth Day/Week/Month, Lauren and Dylan are talking about environmental justice and diversity, equity and inclusion – not just in general, but how this conversation is evolving at DEQ specifically. They are joined by three DEQ staff integral to this work: Natalie Nava, DEQ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator Chamille Hartman, Northwest Region WaterContinue reading “Ep. 10 – Environmental Justice”

The three most important ways Oregon is fighting climate change

cent headlines warn that the window is quickly closing to protect our future and preserve a livable planet. In Oregon, we have seen the effects of the climate crisis first-hand:  hundreds of deaths from extreme heat waves; thousands of homes destroyed by wildfire; lakes and rivers drying up before our eyes; farmers without water to grow food; and the toxic algal blooms that shut down the city of Salem’s drinking water system for weeks in 2018.

Episode 8 – It’s Electric! (vehicles)

“Really the bottom line is we want to make sure that low and moderate income households and communities of color all have an opportunity to take advantage of getting a cleaner car for their household or organization.” Rachael Sakata, oregon department of environmenal quality Electric vehicles are everywhere! And it’s no wonder, there are nowContinue reading “Episode 8 – It’s Electric! (vehicles)”