Following an article published on Friday in a newspaper of Ponta Delgada regarding the monitoring of  air quality in the Azores, the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and the Sea wishes to clarify the following:

1- The Regional Government, in the context of its air-quality environmental policies and legal obligations, asked its Regional Directorate for the Environment to install  Air Quality Monitoring Stations (EMQA) at Espalhafatos and Ribeirinha in the municipality of Horta,

2-The EMQA stations started operating in April 2006,

3- With this initiative, the Government intended to provide the Region with the means to evaluate air quality and to inform the public about such matters,

4-EMQA monitoring stations are integrated in the national network for the monitoring or air quality. Its task is to continually monitor the ozone and  emissions of  sulphur dioxide, nitrogen and particles PM10 and PM 2 and PM 5.

5- Data on the air-quality of Portugal and the Region of the Azores can be found in the online database www.qualar.org

6-Emissions of monitored substances never exceeded emission limits

7- In 2007, the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and the Sea published a report concerning  the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol in the Autonomous Region of the Azores.

8- Given that the Resolution by the Regional Assembly that recommended the elaboration of a Report on Climate and Air Qualit  was adopted in June 2007,  it was decided that this Report should include data from 2008.

9-Honouring the pledge to the Azorean Parliament, the Report on the Climate and Air Quality was practically concluded at the end of 2007 and 2008.

10- The reason for the non-completion of this Report in the present year is related to the technical validation of data pertaining to 2008, which only took place in the initial months of 2009.

11- The Report will be submitted to Parliament within a month through the appropriate institutional channels.

12- After it is analysed by Parliament, the Report will be made available to the public in the portal of the Regional Government of the Azores.