Opinion ID: 1268063
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Reliability of Testing Procedure

Text: Fry Roofing Company produces roofing shingles by saturating heavy felt paper with hot liquid asphalt. During the process, a certain amount of moisture is generated as the asphalt, penetrating the felt, forces residual water from the felt. The water immediately becomes water vapor which travels up through the smoke stack. The only other emission from the stack is submicron asphalt fumes in the aerosol and solid particle form. The aerosols and particles are particulate matter, defined by commission regulations as an air contaminant. Air Pollution Control Commission Regulation 1. VIII, adopted January 14, 1971; see also section 66-31-3(2), C.R.S.1963. The water vapor may condense into steam condensate which becomes visible as it leaves the stack. Steam condensate is not an air contaminant. In the event an inspector is viewing a wet plume (one carrying both visible water droplets, i.e., steam condensate, and particulate matter), the inspector must read the plume beyond the break point, the point beyond which the visible water has evaporated back into the ambient atmosphere. At times, the relative humidity of the ambient air may be so low, that condensation may not occur and the moisture from a stack will be immediately absorbed into the ambient air. In such cases, steam condensate would not be visible. Three inspectors from the state testified that during the 83 days that they observed violations at the Fry Roofing Company plant, they did not observe any visible water. The inspectors from the health department conducted visual opacity readings at the Fry Roofing Company plant. Inasmuch as the emissions from Fry's stacks are not black, the Ringelmann Chart was not used. [13] Instead, the inspectors relied on the visual opacity testdesigned for evaluation of white smokewhich requires that the inspector estimate the percentage of obscuration of light caused by the plume of smoke. The validity of either this method or the Ringelmann test has been upheld in several courts. Lloyd A. Fry Roofing Company v. State, 524 S.W.2d 313 (Tex.Civ.App.1975); Lloyd A. Fry Company v. Utah Air Conservation Committee, Utah, 545 P.2d 495 (1975); Sittner v. Seattle, 62 Wash.2d 834, 384 P.2d 859 (1963); People v. Plywood Mfgrs., 137 Cal.App.2d Supp. 859, 291 P.2d 587 (1955); State v. Mundet Cork Corp., 8 N.J. 359, 86 A.2d 1 (1952); People v. International Steel Corp., 102 Cal.App.2d Supp. 935, 226 P.2d 587 (1951); Penn-Dixie v. City of Kingsport, 189 Tenn. 450, 225 S.W.2d 270 (1949). The record is replete with testimony concerning the qualifications of the health inspectors and the methodology of reading smoke. The inspectors observed uniform guidelines in conducting the visual opacity testsstanding a certain distance from the smoke stack, positioning themselves in accordance with the sun, and noting the natural conditions at the time of the readings. The weight to be accorded to the testimony of the smoke readers . . . was within the prerogatives of the fact finders. Lloyd A. Fry Roofing Co. v. Utah Air Conservation Committee, supra; People v. International Steel Corp., supra ; Annot., Air Pollution: Evidence as to Ringelmann Chart Observations, 51 A.L.R. 3d 1026. Appellant complains that visible water would have interfered with the inspectors' observations of the smoke stacks. This question was thoroughly explored at the hearing, and the issue was resolved against the appellant. The weight to be accorded to the testimony of the inspectors was within the exclusive prerogative of the trier of fact. See our companion decision, Air Pollution Variance Board v. Western Alfalfa Corp., Colo., 553 P.2d 811 (Sup.Ct. No. C-682, announced August 23, 1976).