Bad air quality can take your breath away, in the worst way. And the state of Oregon has not kept air quality permits up to date.

A state audit in 2018 found the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality had a significant backlog in air quality permits. The problem persists.

“Untimely permits, combined with a current backlog of inspections, endanger the state’s air quality and the health of Oregonians,” the 2018 audit said. “For example, when DEQ does not issue permit renewals on time, businesses may not provide DEQ with data showing they are complying with new or updated rules.”

You could say the same thing today.

The big air polluters — or potential air polluters — have what are called Title V operating permits. Every applicable rule and requirement for a given facility is in that permit. It includes limits, tests and more.

A requirement for a Title V permit means a facility emits or has the potential to emit hazardous air pollutants or other pollutants at high levels. For instance, the threshold for a hazardous air pollutant is 10 tons per year of a single pollutant, DEQ told us.

DEQ has 105 Title V permit holders. And only 57% of Title V permits covered by the DEQ are current. The others are classified as administratively extended, meaning the facility submitted a permit renewal on time, but the DEQ has not been able to process it.

“Under our key performance measures, we should have a backlog of no more than 20%,” said Aeron Teverbaugh, DEQ’s senior legislative and policy analyst. “Backlogs are kind of a reality for permitting authorities across the country.”

What’s interesting is the contrast with Lane County. Lane County has its own air quality agency. It’s allowed. Oregon has only one. The Lane Regional Air Protection Agency does for Lane County what DEQ does for the rest of the state.

What is the Lane agency’s backlog? Zero, it told us.

What the Lane’s agency does is specialized. It is for a smaller number of entities, less than 20 concentrated in one swatch of the state. Comparing backlogs is not apples to apples. It has an apple flavor. We would love to see if there is anything DEQ could learn from Lane County and what Lane County could learn from the state.

DEQ is not fully staffed up on positions to do air quality permitting. The total number of staff approved by the Legislature is 32, which includes a number of different positions. Teverbaugh said “right now we have around 12.”

There are nuances behind those numbers. For instance, fees for permits were increased and have been phased in. The money the DEQ needs to fully staff the program it will be getting by the end of this year. Then it can do more hiring and training. Still, it can be hard to find people to do the highly technical work.

“It is unlikely that we will ever be able to hire 20 people to bring up that program,” Teverbaugh said. “Resources are going to be an obstacle. We see improvement on the backlog as a multi-component endeavor.”

Online permitting, improving training so facilities can submit better quality permit materials and improving communications are some of the things DEQ is working on.

The air quality story in Oregon has good news. DEQ now has 70 year-round air monitoring sites. That’s double what it had five years ago.

A report that came out earlier this year shows Oregon has made progress in reducing air toxics, though formaldehyde continues to be above the national average. Oregon used to have multiple counties that failed to meet national ambient air quality standards. Not anymore.

The permit backlog has been intractable. Legislators have been monitoring it. It’s not a secret. What more are legislators going to do to get more permits up to date and protect Oregon’s air? What more could DEQ do to bring staffing levels up? Gov. Tina Kotek has repeatedly said she is tired of government in Oregon not working. Here is a place that needs more work.