Green Space

The soot chronicles: EPA takes testimony today in Philly

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is holding public hearings in two cities to gather testimony on its proposed standard for soot, or fine particle air pollution. The first is today in Philadelphia. A fitting place. According to the American Lung Association, this region ranks tenth in the nation when it comes to soot pollution.

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The soot chronicles: EPA takes testimony today in Philly

POSTED: Tuesday, July 17, 2012, 6:07 PM

Sandy Bauers, Inquirer GreenSpace Columnist

Members of the stroller brigade and rally during the EPA's hearing today on proposed tighter standards for soot. (Photo by Kim Teplitzky of the Sierra Club.)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is holding public hearings in two cities to gather testimony on its proposed standard for soot, or fine particle air pollution.

The first is today in Philadelphia. A fitting place. According to the American Lung Association, this region ranks tenth in the nation when it comes to soot pollution.

Dozens of people signed up to speak, from the American Lung Association to the American Petroleum Institute, from the Moms Clean Air Force to the American Forest and Paper Association, Earthjustice to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

As often happens at these hearings, a consortium of environmental and health advocates gathered for a mid-day rally and stroller brigade, and not even the blistering heat -- and an air action day -- kept them away.

“On hot, humid days like today we are especially at risk from air pollution like soot which poses a serious threat to our children and people with asthma like my young nephew who I’ve seen first-hand deal with the challenges of not being able to breathe well. We’re here today to show our support for stronger limits on soot pollution that will clean up our air and mean healthier families in Philadelphia,” said Jackie Wilson, a volunteer with the Philadelphia Sierra Club, as quoted in a press release about the event.

Coal-fired power plants, diesel exhaust and petroleum refineries are significant sources of soot. The chemical-laden particles travel deep into the lungs and can exacerbate many health problems, causing heart attacks and strokes and initiating asthma attacks. Thousands of premature deaths a year are blamed on soot.

“Soot is so small that its very nature makes it one of the most dangerous forms of air pollution. It is easily inhaled where it can then enter the bloodstream and contribute to heart attacks, strokes and asthma attacks. Young children, like mine, are especially susceptible to soot as they breathe more rapidly and inhale more dangerous particulate matter,” said Gretchen Alfonso, a mother of two from Pennsport who represents the Mom’s Clean Air Force in Philadelphia.

However, Howard Feldman, director of regulatory and scientific affairs for the American Petroleum Institute, testified that the EPA had not proved a cause and effect between soot and health effects. He also said that the current, less-restrictive standard, would continue to produce benefits. "Taken as a whole, the scientific studies cut in different directions…. There is no need to move the goalposts now," he said, according to an API press release.

Kevin M. Stewart, director of environmental health for the American Lung Association of the Mid-Atlantic, testified that "Opponents of improving air quality standards complain of purported undue costs to the economy. Yet not only does history show no evidence that setting strong pollution standards hurts jobs for the economy as a whole, but rather that failure to clean up air pollution imposes all sorts of costs on the economy in death, disease, disability, absenteeism, and lost work and productivity. Far from being a ―job-killer,‖ improving air quality is actually a great bargain, with benefits exceeding clean-up costs typically by a factor on the order of thirty to one."

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Comments (2)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:32 PM, 07/17/2012

IF YOU TRAVEL TO LOS ANGELES BRING YOUR OWN AIR AND A GAS MASK

PARTICULATE POLLUTION AND VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS EVERYWHERE and carbon monoxide and methane and ozone and more.

 Every day hundreds of thousands of anti-environmental pollution hogs cook with charcoal and wood in a city with the worst air pollution and the worst air management in the nation already.

   Every day. Non filtered. Unlimited. Totally unnecessary. Completely preventable using modern technology.

Southern California Air Quality Mis Management District keeps the air in LA heavily polluted on purpose triggering countless asthma attacks and other serious respiratory diseases, and for reasons that only they know.

Trusting SCAQMD to provide healthy breathing air is like trusting a fox to guard the chickens, but worse. Much worse.

— Tom Gillilan

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:41 AM, 07/22/2012

Env Canada census data shows pm is doubling and tripling in recent years from wood smoke not picked up by most pm monitors designed to avoid hotspots. EPA modeling and monitoring shows pm in valleys like the Hudson River Valley is doubling due to wood smoke to about 50 mcg/m3, in streets which is illegal. Pm at houses from woodsmoke and ambiant pm is 75 to 100 mcg/m3, 24 hr ave. 1 hr pm is about 300 mcg/m3 and safe doses per EPA wildfire websites and ATSDR health assessments is 180 mcg/m3,hr. 180 air toxic gases must also be accounted for. DHHS so far, is not implementing essential services written up on its website to investigate, research, stop and prevent all threats believed to be occuring. The ALA, DHHS Committee of the Maine legislature and I all believe wood smoke health nusances must be stopped but this is generally not being done by cities and neither the states nor the federal government is supervising the cities. The result is houses and cities engulfed in visible and invisible wood smoke.

This is also a threat to life and health for global warming per President Obamas endangerment finding. It is the mother lode for mercury that has destroyed much of our fish food supply as well.

Everything in this good article was correct but the Inquirer should research the wood smoke pollution issue more and report on it. Stoves on average are just as bad as the infamous outdoor wood boilers and the EPA is not checking stove modeling or pm estimates in the air to the pm std or the new wood smoke pm dose, and this has to stop as the EPA work on this and the illegal BACT rule is the cause of the problem.

— Ernest Grolimund

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About this blog

Sandy Bauers is the environment reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, where she has worked for more than 20 years as a reporter and editor. She lives in northern Chester County with her husband, two cats, a large vegetable garden and a flock of pet chickens.

GreenSpace - her column about how to reduce your carbon footprint in everyday life - appears every other Monday in Health & Science. Reach Sandy at sbauers@phillynews.com.