Asheville-Buncombe Air Quality Board to Meet Feb. 3 at 4 p.m.

The Asheville‑Buncombe Air Quality Agency Board met Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. in the meeting room at 30 Valley Street to review a packed agenda that included permit modifications, program updates and the agency budget. The session capped a memo issued Jan. 28 by Director Ashley Featherstone that circulated the board’s tentative agenda in advance.

The memorandum noted that, "This meeting will be live streamed on Engage Buncombe which can be accessed at The board meeting documents will also be available on the Engage Buncombe site. The meeting will be recorded and can be viewed later." The county calendar shows the board meets bi-monthly and posts agendas and recordings on its Engage platform, though the version of the memo supplied to reporters did not include the livestream link.

Board business began with routine procedures: a public comment protocol announcement, adjustment and approval of the agenda, and introductions that listed Suzanne Avett - Legal Counsel. The consent agenda included approval of minutes from November 20, 2025, and the agenda listed no unfinished business.

The Director’s Report covered topics with direct relevance to residents: Buncombe County Reduce to Rebuild Program, Air Quality Rule Amendments Update, Review Program Data including complaints and civil penalties, Accomplishments for the last 5-year period, Budget Year FY26 Update, Radon Awareness Month, Monitoring Update, and Facility Permit Modifications. One facility modification listed on the agenda was for RTX Corporation, Pratt and Whitney, described in the agenda copy as: "RTX Corporation, Pratt and Whitney Airplane Parts Manufacturer Small Biltmore Park West, Asheville Updating the heat input and removing the afterburner for the shell fired", the text in the agenda provided to reporters ends abruptly and appears truncated, and the agency did not include the remainder of the change in the circulated copy.

The Air Quality Board’s role, as described on the county page, is explicit: "The Air Quality Board's primary responsibility is to govern the overall operations of the Agency, including approval of industrial permits, oversight of the Agency budget, and final judgment on appealed Notices of Violation." Current board membership listed on the county site includes Ned Guttman with term through 7/1/2028, Joel Storrow - Chair through 7/1/2028, Karl Koon - Vice Chair through 7/1/2026, Caitlin Crossett through 7/1/2026, and Garry Whisnant through 11/1/2026.

For neighbors near industrial sites such as Biltmore Park West, permit changes that alter heat input or remove control equipment can affect emissions profiles and monitoring priorities, which is why monitoring updates and program data were prominent agenda items. The county calendar also lists future board dates for 2026, including March 12, May 14, July 9, September 10 and November 12, all at 4:00 p.m.

What comes next for readers is practical: the agency is expected to post the full meeting packet and a complete description of the RTX permit modification on the Engage Buncombe page, and the recorded meeting should be available there. Reporters and residents seeking detail should look for those documents and for agency responses to the truncated permit language to understand any potential local air quality impacts.