Air pollution to be pressing issue for families and lawmakers

Poor air quality threatens family health.

SALT LAKE CITY — Poor air quality and its adverse impacts to health have risen as a key concern for both policymakers and the public, threatening family health and quality of life, Utah's economy and the vibrancy of its outdoor recreation.

Solving the problem promises to be an issue that once again demands significant time and money from Utah's lawmakers this session.

A spate of bills has already been introduced, although advocates and the co-chairman of the Utah Legislature's Clean Air Caucus do not believe this session will be as active as 2014 when it comes to the number of measures filed.

"I think a lot of the focus this year will be on funding," said Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek. "Air quality will be a high priority again, but we want to make sure our funding is not just one-time. I see some important legislation coming forward."

The clean air effort also promises to capture the attention of a public dealing with January inversion.

Billed last year as the largest political protest in Utah's modern history, the "Clean Air No Excuses" rally in late January drew a boisterous crowd demanding action.

Protecting children

The physicians group and HEAL Utah both are keeping an eye on air quality measures in the session this year. They mentioned Rep. Steve Handy's HB49 as a good proposal that did not pass last year that they hope prevails in this session.

Mirroring a recommendation from Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, the bill would provide $20 million to change out the most polluting diesel school buses in the state fleet and to boost the fueling infrastructure for alternative-fuel buses.

Multiple studies point to air pollution levels inside buses that can be greater than emissions outside the actual bus. Researchers have found that the elevated levels inside the bus are attributed to emissions from the bus itself that intrude into the cabin, a process sometimes termed "self-pollution."

One study found that average exposure to PM2.5 emissions or fine particulates on school buses was five to six times greater than ambient levels outside, and that exposures to both kinds of emissions and black carbon were determined to be higher than an average walking commute.

Another study from Los Angeles determined that diesel exhaust levels inside four sampled school buses were up to 400 percent higher than what was measured inside a passenger car driving directly ahead of the school buses.

Handy's bill addresses many of the buses that were manufactured before 2002 to get at some of the worst offenders. Because he doesn't want polluting buses to be sold to be some other state's health risk and pollution problem, the buses that will be replaced will be destroyed, not sold.

"This makes a certain and clear statement that school districts are committed to cleaner school buses, and we are not passing on the problem to someone else," Handy said.

The bill is identical to what Handy ran last year, but he believes with Herbert's support, as well as that of other groups, there will be more political traction to get the measure passed in 2015.

Change equipment

Herbert's budget also calls for increased funding for what's known as the CARROT program to change out dirty, polluting equipment that can include snowblowers or lawnmowers.

The program received $200,000 last year, and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality believes the governor's request for an additional $1.5 million will make a significant dent in removing some of the most polluting equipment out there.

Moench said he believes there will always be a gap between what the advocates ask for in the arena of air quality and what lawmakers are willing to pass, but he said groups are not going to relent on efforts to hold industry to higher standards and to repeal Utah's "no more stringent" state law that prohibits the state from making tougher rules than the Environmental Protection Agency.

HEAL Utah Director Matt Pacenza said groups also hope to see another push for a local option sales tax with revenue directed at boosting mass transit, specifically adding more bus routes.

The measure passed overwhelmingly in the House last session but faltered the final night of the session in the Senate, never making it up for a vote.

Source: Deseret News

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Pollution choking China's tourism industry

Poor air quality a drawback for tourists.

China's inbound tourism market is still struggling to bounce back in the midst of rising concerns about issues such as air pollution, according to a new report from the China Tourism Academy.

The number of inbound tourists reached 129.08 million in 2013, down 2.51 percent year-on-year, the report said.

About 75.4 percent of inbound tourists were satisfied with their visits in 2013, down 11.41 percent compared with the previous year. Some tourists from overseas expressed dissatisfaction with the water supply, air quality and barrier-free facilities.

"Since the first quarter of 2012, the number of inbound tourists has been down for nine consecutive quarters both on an annual and quarterly basis, and there is no sign that it will bounce back soon," said Dai Bin, head of the academy. "China's inbound tourism market is in a grave situation unseen before."

"And the complicated exterior environment has added uncertainties to the development of inbound tourism," Dai added. "Besides the economic situation and international relationships, issues of weather, environment and terrorism have cast a shadow on the industry."

Jia Zhirong, deputy general manager of Lvmama, an online travel service provider in Shanghai, said his company has seen decreases both in the number of inbound tourists and the money they spend in China in the past three years.

"The majority of our clients are from South Korea, Japan, the United States and Canada," said Jia. "In 2011, the average spending in China for each overseas tourist was around $2,000, excluding transportation and accommodation. The number has been dropping every year."

"I think air pollution is a very important reason," Jia said. "Overseas visitors will not consider traveling to a destination with a potential health risks.

"Besides, the reason overseas visitors found China attractive is the natural beauty of lakes, mountains and ancient architecture. With heavy smog, it is very difficult for them to enjoy that."

Beijing, one of the most important tourism destinations in China, has been plagued by heavy smog for days. The capital's tourism authority told China Daily that it is aware of the impact of air pollution on tourism, but there are more reasons behind the declines.

Source: China Daily Asia

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Companies start disclosing fracking chemicals

As hydraulic fracturing operations spread,
so have fears of potential chemical hazards.

SAN ANTONIO — Baker Hughes Inc. this month will start disclosing all the chemicals it uses in hydraulic fracturing — the first of the major oil field service companies to adopt a policy of transparency.

The Houston-based company said it will not make any trade secret claims in the information it posts on the industry website FracFocus.org, starting with wells fractured on or after Oct. 1.

The process pumps water and chemicals at high pressure to break shale. Then sand is added to the mixture to prop open the fissures and let oil and gas flow up the well.

Along with horizontal drilling, the use of hydraulic fracturing, known more commonly as fracking, has opened up new shale fields across the United States.

Among the many chemicals used for fracking are hydrochloric acid, petroleum distillates and ethanol, according to FracFocus.

“The policy we are implementing today is consistent with our belief that we are partners in solving industry challenges, and that we have a responsibility to provide the public with the information they want and deserve,” Derek Mathieson, Baker Hughes chief strategy officer, said in a news release.

Baker Hughes will not detail specific product formulations but will disclose a single list of all the chemical constituents and their maximum concentrations.

As shale drilling boomed across the country — and in response to grass-roots concerns about potential environmental or health effects — the oil and gas industry launched FracFocus.org in spring 2011 as a national registry for companies to voluntarily report the composition of hydraulic fracturing fluids.

The Ground Water Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission maintain the FracFocus website, which has information on more than 77,000 wells.

Texas has required operators to disclose the composition of fluids used in hydraulic fracturing on FracFocus since Feb. 1, 2012, but the law allows them to withhold the identity and amount of the chemicals as a trade secret.

The use of the trade secret exemption is widespread.

Of 12,410 instances of hydraulic fracturing in Texas between April 2011 and early December 2012, companies used terms such as “proprietary,” “secret” or “confidential” 10,120 times while reporting data on the FracFocus.org website, according to data collected by Pivot Upstream Group and analyzed by the San Antonio Express-News.

In the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, the trade secret exemption was used 2,297 times in 3,100 fracturing events.

In Texas, the only people who can challenge a trade secret claim are the landowner and someone who lives adjacent to him or her. State regulators also can challenge the use of the exemption.

In 2013, the Harvard Environmental Law Program's Policy Initiative criticized FracFocus, citing a lack of transparency.

This year, an Energy Department advisory board said companies were shielding too much information from public view in the FracFocus registry.

Source: MySA

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Dangerous chemical in Southern California air

Polluted outdoor air can become a problem indoors.

Regional air-quality officials are trying to find the source of a cancer-causing chemical discovered recently in Jurupa Valley at levels about four times higher than the average for urban Southern California.

“There is no cause for alarm, but we are looking into it because it is a bit unusual,” said Philip Fine, an assistant deputy executive officer for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The chemical is methylene chloride, a common industrial solvent used as a degreaser and paint stripper. It is very volatile, so it’s also used as an aerosol spray propellant and as a blowing agent for polyurethane foams.

Jean Ospital, the air district’s heath-effects officer, said the levels found in Jurupa Valley are too low to have short-term health effects.

But the long-term effect is a concern, Ospital said. The cancer risk is estimated at 7 cases per 1 million people over a 70-year lifetime, and the air district wants to eliminate that risk, he said.

“This risk is high for just one chemical, and it’s higher than the other communities in the air basin,” Ospital said.

In Jurupa Valley, the total cancer risk for all other sources of air pollution, including diesel soot, is 385 cases per 1 million people.

Fine said the air district first noted methylene chloride spikes in outdoor air samples taken at the district’s air monitoring station in the Rubidoux area of Jurupa Valley in late 2012 when collecting data for an air toxics study.

He said the district also found elevated levels in recent samples, as well as in samples collected separately by the state Air Resources Board, which monitors air quality for California’s Environmental Protection Agency.

The source, however, remains a mystery.

METHYLENE CHLORIDE
What: A volatile industrial chemical with a chloroform-like odor.
Uses: Paint stripping, paint remover, metal cleaning, degreasing, resin production, solvent distribution.
Industries: Pharmaceutical, adhesive and film base manufacturing.
Health effects: Cancer potential with long-term exposure. Short-term exposure to high concentrations may cause mental confusion, light-headedness, nausea, vomiting and headaches.

 
Air district officials have examined wind directions and other meteorological data, but they have been unable to trace the pollution to a residence or business, Fine said.

In 2004 and 2005, air quality officials found similar spikes in methylene chloride in Long Beach, and never were able to find the source.

Fine said the chemical is found in paint-stripping products readily available at retail stores such as Home Depot and Lowe’s. The air district, he said, may re-evaluate how it regulates such products, he said. It already has rules limiting the volatility of paints and varnishes because fumes contribute to the formation of smog.

While regional air quality is improving, Jurupa Valley has pockets of people living near freeways, railroads and warehouses who are exposed to higher levels of pollution.

Penny Newman, executive director of Jurupa Valley-based Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, said several industries in the area may be using industrial solvents.

“It is disturbing that they don’t know where it is coming from,” Newman said.

Methylene chloride isn’t the first unusual type of pollution in Jurupa Valley.

In 2008, the air district disclosed that it had found elevated levels of cancer-causing hexavalent chromium in the Rubidoux area.

District officials later traced the pollution to the TXI Riverside Cement plant, which was found to be releasing chromium-tainted cement dust into the community.

TXI was cited for dust violations and agreed to pay $1 million in penalties and to make changes to its operations in ways that greatly reduced dust emissions.

Source: The Press Enterprise

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Urban air cleaner than ever: EPA

EPA report shows progress in reducing urban air toxics across the United States

Urban air toxics have been reduced, but they
still  pose a threat to public health, experts say.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the Second Integrated Urban Air Toxics Report to Congress - the final of two reports required under the Clean Air Act (CAA) to inform Congress of progress in reducing public health risks from urban air toxics.

“This report gives everyone fighting for clean air a lot to be proud of because for more than 40 years we have been protecting Americans – preventing illness and improving our quality of life by cutting air pollution - all while the economy has more than tripled,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.

“But we know our work is not done yet. At the core of EPA’s mission is the pursuit of environmental justice - striving for clean air, water and healthy land for every American; and we are committed to reducing remaining pollution, especially in low-income neighborhoods.”

Using national emissions and air quality data, the Urban Air Toxics Report shows the substantial progress that has been made to reduce air toxics across the country since the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.

• A 66 percent reduction in benzene;
• A nearly 60 percent reduction in mercury from man-made sources like coal-fired power plants;
• An 84 percent decrease of lead in outdoor air, which slows brain development in children;
• The removal of an estimated 1.5 million tons per year of air toxics like arsenic, benzene, lead and nickel from stationary sources and another 1.5 million tons per year (about 50 percent) of air toxics from mobile sources. This is significant because air toxics (also referred to as hazardous air pollutants or HAPs) are known or suspected of causing cancer and can damage the immune, respiratory, neurological, reproductive and developmental systems;
• And, approximately 3 million tons per year of criteria pollutants, like particulate amtter and sulfur dioxide, have been reduced from cars and trucks as co-benefits of air toxics reductions.

EPA is working with state, local and tribal agencies to promote area-wide and regional strategies to address air toxics and support a number of community-based programs that help communities understand, prioritize and reduce exposures to toxic pollutants in their environment.

For example, in Indianapolis, the EPA is working with partners on the ground through an EPA grant for the “Building Lead Safe Communities” Project in the Martindale-Brightwood and Nearwest neighborhoods. They are addressing the risk of toxic lead exposure in children through outreach efforts and compiling block level soil lead data, identifying hotspots utilizing air sampling and developing synergistic local solutions.

Additionally, recent EPA actions will further address toxic pollution in communities. Since 2005, EPA has taken steps to address air emissions from stationary sources that include major reductions from boilers, power plants, and Portland cement facilities. For example, the 2011 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards will prevent about 90 percent of the mercury in coal burned in power plants from being emitted to the air.

The 2007 Mobile Source Air Toxics rule is projected to reduce toxics emitted from highway vehicles and nonroad equipment, which are known or suspected to cause cancer or other serious health and environmental effects, by 330,000 tons in 2030, including 61,000 tons of benzene, and VOC emissions (precursors to ozone and PM2.5) by over one million tons.

The EPA expects reductions in air toxics from cars and trucks to grow to 80 percent by the year 2030 as newer, cleaner vehicles get on the road. The proposed updates to emission standards for petroleum refineries would reduce emissions from the 150 petroleum refineries across the U.S., many of which are located near communities.

It would also reduce emissions of chemicals such as benzene, toluene and xylene by 5,600 tons per year.  These efforts, along with the implementation and adoption of new and existing national rules for stationary and mobile sources of pollution, will improve public health for all Americans by providing further reductions in air toxics.

Source: EPA

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Wildfires destroying homes, forcing evacuations

Due to dry conditions, this year's fire season has
started early and is bound to set records.

Fire crews are making an unheard-of scramble as a huge number of lightning-sparked wildfires continue to burn across drought-parched regions of Oregon and Washington.

One fire in north-central Washington has already caused severe damage, destroying an estimated 150 homes.

According to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center, there were 13 large, uncontained fires burning in Oregon as of last week, consuming over 494,000 acres.

In Washington, seven fires have burned close to 319,000 acres. Nearly 12,800 firefighters and support personnel have been dispatched, and both Washington and Oregon have declared states of emergency.

Carol Connolly, a public information officer for the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center, said that although the region has dealt with high-acreage fire incidents before, the complexity of having so many scattered across Oregon and Washington at once "is pretty unprecedented."

That means "20 different operations, 20 different fires to get resources to," Connolly said.

A National Interagency Coordination Center incident report showed that at least five of these fires have forced evacuation orders, and even more pose a threat to structures and residences.

Peter Goldmark, Washington's commissioner of public lands, said that beyond the challenge in addressing the large number of incidents, "it's also the very adversarial weather conditions that we've found ourselves in."

This year's fire season started early, due to unusual heat and drought conditions, he said. It has already far outstripped the number of acres burned in an average year.

In 2013, wildfires in Washington burned over 152,603 acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC). On Sunday, Washington's Carlton Complex Fire alone grew to nearly 300,000 acres.

The Red Cross has set up six different shelters for evacuees.

Complicating matters, the Carleton Complex fire has also caused extensive damage to power lines.

This level of fire activity is consistent with what the Pacific Northwest may have to contend with more as climate change intensifies. The National Climate Assessment, released this year, stated that warmer and drier conditions have already increased the frequency and intensity of fires in Western forests since the 1970s.

Under a scenario where emissions increase through 2050 and gradually decrease afterward, the assessment predicts that the median area burned each year in the Northwest could quadruple, reaching 2 million acres annually by the 2080s. However, this figure is expected to vary significantly depending on fuel conditions, it said.

Severe fire conditions are also being felt in other regions of North America. Unusually warm and dry weather, also consistent with climate change, has spurred wildfires in well over 2 million acres of Canada's Northwest Territories (ClimateWire, July 16).

California, too, is grappling with an above-average fire season. Speaking to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last week, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Director Ken Pimlott said that three years of drought has left fuels on the ground "parched and ripe to burn."

"Southern California has been in continuous fire season since April of last year," Pimlott said. "They are burning with a speed and intensity that we would normally see in the peak of summer or fall."

Source: E&E Publishing;  This article has been edited for length.

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Micro-monitors to warn of air pollution hot spots

Small air quality monitors can provide valuable information
about local air pollution levels to citizens and the public.

Louisville is planning to monitor air pollution on a micro-level, potentially shedding light on city "hot spots" that could be damaging people's health.

Using new technology tied to the Internet, Louisville philanthropist Christy Brown is helping to deploy a fleet of micro-monitors about as big as a softball that will continuously sniff the air and provide individuals — as well as the public — a quick view of the pollution surrounding them.

Brown announced the program to deploy the first 100 so-called Air Quality Eggs at a cocktail supper for 200 guests at her northeast Louisville home. They will monitor for nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulates, temperature and humidity.

The goal, Brown said, is to "find a new way to care for each other." And Mayor Greg Fischer, who frequently speaks about the need for compassion and innovation, is endorsing the effort.

"We are living in an extraordinary time ... with all these new tools we have not had available before," he told those at Thursday's event. "You may not understand this egg thing, but go ahead and become a civic entrepreneur."

While not as reliable as government sensors, the readings do give people an approximate idea of pollution levels immediately nearby, so they can be more informed in seeking better air quality, said Dirk Swart, a co-founder of the company that makes the monitors, Wicked Device LLC of Ithaca, N.Y.

"The goal is to make information actionable," by making it immediate and personal, he said.

Ted Smith, the mayor's innovation czar, said that the party's participants purchased as many as 100 of the monitors. When bought from Brown's new nonprofit Institute for Healthy Air, Water and Soil, each monitor costs $200 a piece. That's less than the $243 that the company charges for the same package on its Wicked Device website.

Smith said people can donate the eggs so a project team can place them in strategic locations. That way they can search for potential pollution hot spots that may be missed by the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District's network of six monitoring stations, he said.

"The best possible outcome is a closer connection between health and well-being and our environment," he said.

For those who want to track more pollutants, they may purchase an egg directly from the Wicked Device website, adding packages that detect ozone and volatile organic compounds, which contribute to smog.

All the data will be sent automatically to the Air Quality Egg website, as well as a special website being developed for Louisville, which will include other information such as the location where people who are participating in a related project are having asthma attacks.

The special Louisville website will also compare Egg readings to an index, giving people a sense of what the data means, Smith said.

Accuracy uncertain

The Air Quality Egg was launched in 2012, part of what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calls the next generation of air monitoring. There are also businesses that have developed small monitors that connect to smart phone applications, providing instant readings of what their users are breathing.

"In the last two years, we have seen an explosion around these technologies," said Ron Williams, a research chemist with the EPA's Office of Research and Development.

He said EPA has been conducting laboratory and field tests to determine how accurate the personal monitors are, and said "that has yet to be determined. It's certainly not regulatory grade."

Without commenting specifically on the Air Quality Egg, he said "most of these devices have value for low-cost citizen science."

Swart acknowledged that their data can't match the quality of official government monitors.

"We are not trying to be the EPA," he said.

Similar community initiatives are underway with the Air Quality Egg in Boston and the country of Georgia, he said.

Arnita Gadson, executive director of the Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission, said officials working on new air-monitoring initiative will have to be careful about how they communicate with the public, because there are many types of air pollution, and the personal monitors only track a few.

In addition to Louisville's six official monitoring stations, Indiana and Kentucky run several others in the region that are used to determine the community's compliance with federal clean-air rules.

They sample for a variety of pollutants, such as ozone and the smallest of particulates, and have shown that in recent decades, air quality locally has improved.

While those monitors are meant to characterize air quality across a region, air pollution can be different from neighborhood to neighborhood.

Search for hot spots

That's where the micro-level reporting may be especially helpful — helping to identify potential hot spots and their sources.

In general, people who live in more polluted cities don't live as long, said Aruni Bhatnagar, a professor of medicine at University of Louisville.

And there can also be places in cities where air quality is worse, he said, calling them hot spots where air pollution can also damage people's bodies and make them sick.

The effort harkens back more than a decade when Louisville was gripped in a fight over toxic air from industrial sites.

Smith said he plans to seek advice from the Louisville air district and and its health department on where to place the air monitors that people donate.

Air district staff are willing to do that, said Keith Talley Sr., executive director of the agency.

He said it's too soon to evaluate the citizen monitoring program but said it "could point out some stuff we need to look at."

The biggest impact, he said, may be "the community awareness it will bring."

Source: The Courier-Journal
This article has been edited for length.

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Texas gas town wants to ban fracking

Oil and gas production has
fueled concerns over air
and water quality.

Natural gas money has been good to the Texas city of Denton: It has new parks, a new golf course and miles of grassy soccer fields. The business district is getting a makeover, and the airport is bustling, too.

For more than a decade, Denton has drawn its lifeblood from the huge gas reserves that lie beneath its streets. The gas fields have produced a billion dollars in mineral wealth and pumped more than $30 million into city bank accounts.

But this former farming center north of Dallas is considering a revolt. Unlike other communities that have embraced the lucrative drilling boom made possible by hydraulic fracturing, leaders here have temporarily halted all fracking as they consider an ordinance that could make theirs the first city in the state to permanently ban the practice.

If the city council rejects the ban, it will go to voters in November.

The college town has preserved much of its agricultural past. Historic downtown streets lined with 19th-century buildings open up to expansive fields with greenhouses and grazing cattle. But drilling is never far away, with some 275 active gas wells piercing the earth.

The willingness to reject fracking in the heart of oil and gas country reflects a broader shift in thinking.

In place of gas drills, some of Denton's 120,000 residents envision a future in which their city is known for environmentally friendly commerce and the nation's largest community garden.

They've even embarked on a campaign to persuade the maker of Sriracha hot sauce to expand its massive pepper-grinding business here — a prospect that appeals to the local farm-to-table culture.

Fracking involves blasting a mix of water, sand and an assortment of chemicals deep into underground rock formations to free oil and gas. The method has long stirred concerns about its effect on air and water quality, and whether it releases cancer-causing chemicals and causes small earthquakes.

Around the time fracking began in Denton, in 2000, the population started to swell, along with doubts about the drilling.

The Denton Drilling Awareness Group proposed tighter fracking rules and even won a series of temporary bans on new drilling permits.

At the same time, drillers defied city rules that required them to line wastewater pits and prohibited them from burning off, or "flaring," waste gas in residential areas.

"All that did was make people so fired up," McMullen said. "We had no choice" but to call for an outright ban, she said.

It also helped that only 2 percent of Denton's residents see royalties from the drilling, McMullen said, citing an analysis of city appraisal records on mineral property values between 2002 and 2013.

Scores of other cities and some states have considered similar bans, but few, if any, have Denton's close ties to the oil and gas industry. The issue could test whether any community in Texas — the nation's biggest oil and gas producer — can rebuff the industry and still thrive.

The debate comes as the city tries to wean its business community off fossil-fuel revenue. The Sriracha campaign is the highest-profile part of that effort. Another example is Tetra Points Fuels, which produces ethanol from expired soda and other sugary drinks that have been thrown away.

If the fracking ban is adopted, it's unclear whether the law would hold up in court. Cities in Colorado and California are being sued by drilling operators over similar bans, and owners of mineral rights here are already making their case for more drilling.

Ed Ireland, director of the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council, a pro-industry group, said Denton can't implement a ban because the city in 2000 began issuing drilling permits to operators "in perpetuity."

Land in Texas is split between the surface and the minerals below. In Denton, most of the mineral rights are held by estates and trusts outside Texas, according to a preliminary study by University of North Texas researchers who support the ban.

The Rayzor Co., which has one of the largest mineral holdings in Denton, stands to lose about $1.75 million a year if it's barred from fracking on its former cattle ranch. Chief executive Phillip Baker insists that fracking is the only process capable of retrieving gas from the mineral rights held by Rayzor and others.

Meanwhile, city councilman Kevin Roden has different hopes for the future. He launched the Sriracha campaign despite the company's problems in Irwindale, California, where residents complained about odors and fumes that burned their throats and eyes.

"There's a big distinction," Roden said he tells skeptics, "between the toxins emitted from oil and gas and the irritation that comes from chopping tons of onions and jalapenos.

Source: AP

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NY air quality rules would target restaurants, food trucks

Restaurants might need to install
devices to avoid air pollution.

Mayor Bill de Blasio backs proposed antipollution laws that would require many restaurants and commercial kitchens to install emission filters on ovens and char-broilers, ban new wood-burning fireplaces and encourage refrigerated trucks to switch to battery power from diesel fuel.

The proposals, discussed before the City Council's Committee on Environmental Protection, would affect eateries across the five boroughs -- mom-and-pop pizzerias, food vendor trucks, high-volume char-broilers and vehicles that deliver or serve refrigerated food or beverages.

Sponsors say the rules would save hundreds of lives every year by removing from the air unhealthy particulate matter that causes diseases from emphysema and asthma to diabetes.

The New York City Hospitality Alliance and the New York State Restaurant Association, which represent many of the affected establishments, did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Food purveyors would need to change the way they operate under the proposals.

Char-broilers in establishments that cook at least 875 pounds of meat or seafood a week would need to install the devices. So would restaurants with coal or wood-fired pizza ovens.

Food trucks that don't switch to the cleanest technology -- currently battery-powered refrigeration -- would face annual fees. Trucks that deliver perishables such as frozen food would also face new restrictions on idling.

The rules would also ban the building of new wood-burning fireplaces anywhere in the city, including homes. Only fireplaces that burn fuels such as natural gas would be allowed.

Existing fireplaces could not legally burn wood with moisture content greater than 20 percent. Moist wood, officials say, releases more pollutants than the drier variety.

Source: NewsDay

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State of the Air brings good and bad news

The report shows some improvements,
but millions  of people live and work in
areas where the air remains unhealthy.

A new report tries to clear the air on where America stands in its battle with air pollution.

The 2014 State of the Air report out Wednesday from the American Lung Association presents a good news/bad news mix showing improvements in America's air quality compared with previous decades, but more recently an increase in ozone readings since its 2013 report.

Bottom line, the association says, is that 147.6 million people live in areas where air quality remains unhealthy, almost 16 million more than the 2013 report.

The report averaged year-round and 24-hour levels of particle pollution, a mix of tiny solid and liquid particles that come from coal-fired plants and vehicle exhaust, and measured ozone, or smog.

Particle and ozone pollution increase the risk of heart disease, lung cancer and asthma attacks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Though some improved, all of the most polluted cities have year-round particle levels that violate health standards, according to the report.

Cities that ranked as the cleanest cities in 2010-2012 based on measures of ozone and short- and long-term particle pollution were Bangor, Maine; Bismark, N.D.; Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.; and Salinas, Calif.

In terms of air quality, there have been some wins, such as a court case upholding standards limiting power plant emissions of toxic air pollutants and the Supreme Court's decision on cross-state air pollution. The next step is the Environmental Protection Agency making a decision on a healthier national ozone standard.

As the summer heats up, people can check air quality online at AirNow.

This article has been edited for length.
Source: USA Today

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World's cities have too much air pollution: WHO

Poor air quality in most cities is bad for
people's health: Experts

The World Health Organization says air pollution in many of the world's cities is breaching its guidelines.

Its survey of 1,600 cities in 91 countries revealed that nearly 90% of people in urban centres breathe air that fails to meet levels deemed safe.

The WHO says that about half of the world's urban population is exposed to pollution at least 2.5 times higher than it recommends.

Air quality was poorest in Asia, followed by South America and Africa.

"Too many urban centres today are so enveloped in dirty air that their skylines are invisible," said Dr Flavia Bustreo, the WHO's assistant director-general for family, children and women's health.

"Not surprisingly, this air is dangerous to breathe."

Poor air = Health risks

The WHO currently sets safe levels of air quality based on the concentration of polluting particles called particulate matter (PM) found in the air.

It recommends that levels of fine particles called PM2.5 should not be more than 10 micrograms per cubic metre on average over a year, and slightly larger pollutants, called PM10, should not reach more than 20 micrograms per cubic metre on average.

But the Urban Air Quality database showed that many areas were breaching these levels.

Some cities in Asia showed extremely high levels of pollution. Peshawar in Pakistan registered a PM10 level of 540 micrograms per cubic metre over a period of two months in 2010, while Delhi in India had an average PM2.5 of 153 micrograms per cubic metre in the same year.

Cities in South America, including Rio De Janeiro in Brazil, also fared badly.

But the WHO says it is still lacking data, especially from cities in Africa, where poor air quality is a growing concern.

The most recent figures suggest that seven million people around the world died as a result of air pollution in 2012. It is estimated that 3.7 million of these deaths were from outdoor air pollution.

The WHO calls it the world's single largest environmental health risk, and links poor air quality to heart disease, respiratory problems and cancer.

"We cannot buy clean air in a bottle, but cities can adopt measures that will clean the air and save the lives of their people," said Dr Carlos Dora from the WHO.

Source: BBC

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A cleaner way to separate coal and ash

New technology separates coal, ash without chemicals

The new technology is new but has
the potential to curb contamination.

The DriJet 100 is a new technology that can separate coal from ash without using water or chemicals.

The technology, developed by Pennsylvania-based Mineral Separation Technologies, uses x-rays to scan and separate coal from ash. That means it's cleaner, portable and more reliable than traditional coal prep plants.

It's also safer, faster and much more economical.

"It eliminates a lot of risk for us, a lot of potential exposure, that's what we like about it," West Virginia Coal Reclamation Managing Partner Gene Ricciardi said. "It provides on-site separation and cleaning, so we don't have to worry about transporting large volumes of coal in trucks — we're going to be transporting probably one-third of amount in trucks that we normally would.

"There's a lot less possibility of contamination into the water system and air."

The Kanawha County company was first in the industry to purchase the technology, but Ricciardi and his partner, Joe Cornfield, are satisfied it will live up to the hype. Though their system isn't operational yet, Ricciardi said they've run their coal through the machine "and it's worked."

Mineral Separations CEO Charles Roos said the patented technology uses x-rays to identify the atomic weight of the coal particles and then air jets separate coal from ash. The ash is removed from the coal right at the mine face.

"The technology was developed for separating recycled metals and recycled plastics; it's been used for years in that industry," he said. "There have been hundreds of installations around the world in recycling plants.

"About five years ago we noticed electronics had gotten fast enough and sensors fast enough that we could use the technology on (other) material streams."

Roos said the technology means fewer coal trucks on the road and less coal waste in impoundments, both positive changes for the industry. It also requires less horsepower and fewer moving parts, which cuts operating costs.

The DriJet can process 20,000 pieces of coal per second and deliver a higher quality product.

Source: The State Journal

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Fewer air pollutants released: EPA

Agency's 2012 Toxics Release Inventory shows air pollutants continue to decline

Companies are required to report their
toxic releases and the info is online.

WASHINGTON - Total releases of toxic chemicals decreased 12 percent from 2011-2012, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) annual Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) report.

The decrease includes an eight percent decline in total toxic air releases, primarily due to reductions in hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions.

“People deserve to know what toxic chemicals are being used and released in their backyards, and what companies are doing to prevent pollution,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.

“By making that information easily accessible through online tools, maps, and reports, TRI is helping protect our health and the environment.”

The 2012 data show that 3.63 billion pounds of toxic chemicals were either disposed or otherwise released into the environment through air, water, and land.

There was also a decline in releases of HAPs such as hydrochloric acid and mercury, which continues a long-term trend.

Between 2011 and 2012, toxic releases into surface water decreased three percent and toxic releases to land decreased 16 percent.

This is the first year that TRI has collected data on hydrogen sulfide. While it was added to the TRI list of reportable toxic chemicals in a 1993 rulemaking, EPA issued an Administrative Stay in 1994 that deferred reporting while the agency completed further evaluation of the chemical.

EPA lifted the stay in 2011. In 2012, 25.8 million pounds of hydrogen sulfide were reported to TRI, mainly in the form of releases to air from paper, petroleum, and chemical manufacturing facilities.

Another new addition to TRI reporting is a requirement for each facility located in Indian country to submit TRI reports to EPA and the appropriate tribe, and not the state where the facility is geographically located.

EPA finalized this requirement in a 2012 rule aimed at increasing tribal participation in the TRI Program.

This year's TRI national analysis report includes new analyses and interactive maps for each U.S. metropolitan and micropolitan area, new information about industry efforts to reduce pollution through green chemistry and other pollution prevention practices, and a new feature about chemical use in consumer products.

The annual TRI report provides citizens with critical information about their communities. The TRI Program collects data on certain toxic chemical releases to the air, water, and land, as well as information on waste management and pollution prevention activities by facilities across the country.

The data are submitted annually to EPA, states, and tribes by facilities in industry sectors such as manufacturing, metal mining, electric utilities, and commercial hazardous waste.

Many of the releases from facilities that are subject to TRI reporting are regulated under other EPA program requirements designed to limit harm to human health and the environment.

Also available is the expanded TRI Pollution Prevention (P2) Search Tool, which now allows users to graphically compare facilities within the same industry using a variety of environmental metrics.

Under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), facilities must report their toxic chemical releases to EPA by July 1 of each year.

The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 also requires facilities to submit information on waste management activities related to TRI chemicals.

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More wildfires may mean poorer air quality

An increase in wildfires can affect human
health and respiratory conditions.

As the American West, parched by prolonged drought, braces for a season of potentially record-breaking wildfires, new research suggests these events not only pose an immediate threat to people's safety and their homes, but also could take a toll on human health, agriculture and ecosystems.

The study, appearing in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology, could help societies map out a plan to mitigate these effects in wildfire-prone regions.

Matthew D. Hurteau and colleagues point out that wildfires naturally occur in many areas around the globe.
In response, human societies have harnessed the power of fire to better control wild blazes and minimize damage. But climate change also can impact the number and severity of wildfires.

Understanding how these factors influence each other is crucial so that people can better prepare for the future and perhaps lessen the effects of the blazes.

Previous studies have estimated the effect of climate change and population growth on wildfire patterns and the risk of damage to buildings and homes in California. Hurteau's team wanted to expand on those findings and investigate six possible future climate scenarios.

Using several different models, they estimated that by 2100, emissions from wildfires in California will grow by 19 to 101 percent. They found that climate, not population growth or development, will likely be the driving force behind these increases.

However, a rise in wildfires still will mean significant societal challenges, such as higher pollution levels, which can affect human health and aggravate respiratory conditions. Poor air quality also can lower crop yield, and forest health could suffer.

Source: American Chemical Society via AAAS

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Researchers develop new early warning system for toxins

Turkeys inspire smartphone-capable sensor for airborne chemicals

Turkey skin can shift color.
Photo courtesy of Tom Curtis/
FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Some may think of turkeys as good for just lunch meat and holiday meals. But bioengineers at the University of California, Berkeley, saw inspiration in the big birds for a new type of biosensor that changes color when exposed to chemical vapors.

This feature makes the sensors valuable detectors of toxins or airborne pathogens.

Turkey skin, it turns out, can shift from red to blue to white, thanks to bundles of collagen that are interspersed with a dense array of blood vessels. It is this color-shifting characteristic that gives turkeys the name "seven-faced birds" in Korean and Japanese.

The researchers say that spacing between the collagen fibers changes when the blood vessels swell or contract, depending upon whether the bird is excited or angry.

The amount of swelling changes the way light waves are scattered and, in turn, alters the colors we see on the bird's head.

Seung-Wuk Lee, UC Berkeley associate professor of bioengineering, led a research team in mimicking this color-changing ability to create biosensors that can detect volatile chemicals.

"In our lab, we study how light is generated and changes in nature, and then we use what we learn to engineer novel devices," said Lee, who is also a faculty scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The researchers created a mobile app, called the iColour Analyser, to show that a smartphone photo of the sensor's color bands could be used to help identify toxins of interest. They described their experiments in a study to be published Tuesday, Jan. 21, in the journal Nature Communications.

Sensors that give off color readings are easier to use and read than conventional biosensors.

However, the major ones in development elsewhere can only detect a limited range of chemicals and, according to the researchers, they can be very difficult to manufacture.

"Our system is convenient, and it is cheap to make," said Lee. "We also showed that this technology can be adapted so that smartphones can help analyze the color fingerprint of the target chemical. In the future, we could potentially use this same technology to create a breath test to detect cancer and other diseases."
         
In copying this turkey-skin design, Lee and his team employed a technique they pioneered to mimic nanostructures like collagen fibers. The researchers found a way to get M13 bacteriophages, benign viruses with a shape that closely resembles collagen fibers, to self-assemble into patterns that could be easily fine-tuned.

The researchers found that, like collagen fibers, these phage-bundled nanostructures expanded and contracted, resulting in color changes. The exact mechanism behind the shrinking or expanding phage bundles is still unclear, but it's possible that the small amount of water in the phage is reacting to the chemical vapors, the researchers said.

The turkey-inspired biosensors were exposed to a range of volatile organic compounds, including hexane, isopropyl alcohol and methanol, as well as vapor of the explosive chemical TNT, at concentrations of 300 parts per billion. The researchers found that the viruses swelled rapidly, resulting in specific color patterns that served as "fingerprints" to distinguish the different chemicals tested.

The researchers showed that the biosensor's specificity to a target chemical could be increased by genetically engineering the DNA in the M13 bacteriophage to bind with sites specific to TNT.

The biosensor was then exposed to two additional chemicals, DNT and MNT, which have similar molecular structures to TNT. The engineered biosensor successfully distinguished TNT from the other chemicals with distinct color bands.

The biosensors were also able to signal changes in relative humidity, ranging from 20 percent to 90 percent, becoming redder with moister air and bluer with drier air.

The study lead author is Jin-Woo Oh, a former postdoctoral researcher in Lee's lab and now an assistant professor in the Department of Nanomaterial Engineering at Pusan National University in South Korea.

The National Science Foundation, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration and Agency for Defense Development in South Korea, Korea's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and Samsung helped support this work.

Source: University of California, Berkeley via EurekAlert! 

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Washington day cares close to polluted roads

Small children are most affected by
air pollution, experts say.

It’s a cruel fact of physiology: kids are the hardest-hit victims of air pollution.

Pound for pound, children breathe more than adults, receiving a relatively bigger toxic dose delivered to their developing bodies. And the smaller the child, the bigger the impact. What makes an 8-year-old cough could make an infant stop breathing.

That science takes on particular significance in Washington, where 126 day cares are located beside major roads and where rules about where new facilities can open are not enforced.

Researchers say air pollution from vehicle traffic can aggravate asthma, reduce lung function and boost school absenteeism, as well as promote cancer later in life and harm developing immune systems.

An additional 439 day cares sit within 500 feet of the state’s heaviest truck routes, a new analysis by InvestigateWest shows. The diesel fuel that powers these trucks can spew 100 to 200 times more soot than gasoline engines, and the exhaust is so toxic that the World Health Organization classifies it as a carcinogen.

Nationally, more than 11 million children under 5 are enrolled in regular child care.  In Washington, one-fourth of all toddlers and one-third of all preschoolers attend a licensed child care facility, according to a 2008 survey.

The pollution risks are not always reflected in where parents choose to or are able to enroll their kids.

Just south of Everett along Interstate 5, a hedge separates the playground of Kids ‘N Us Learning Academy from a highway off-ramp. Among the dozens of day cares that fall within the pollution plume of I-5, Kids ‘N Us is one of the closest, its property line just over 300 feet from the heavily traveled road.

In Washington, the murky set of guidelines governing where day cares can operate does little in practice to protect kids from air pollution risks.

State child care licensing code does not restrict where in-home day cares — limited to 12 or fewer kids — can open.

Institutional child care centers, which have an average capacity of 69 kids, are required to be on an “environmentally safe site” and in a neighborhood “free of a condition detrimental to the child's welfare,” according to a state regulation.

The licensing process for a new day care does not require a site review by health officials to determine whether a property is safe from environmental hazards like nearby freeways. Instead, the Department of Early Learning, a fire marshal and the local planning department sign off on a new location. The agency also employs four health specialists to respond to complaints and concerns.

As is the case with schools, the construction of day cares can trigger a State Environmental Protection Act, or SEPA, review. But that process emphasizes air risks stemming from construction like dust and short-term truck traffic rather than ambient air concerns like a nearby highway.

Reducing harm from near-road exposures at day cares is something of a bureaucratic hot potato, with the Washington Department of Early Learning saying it’s not its job to correct for environmental risks, and health officials saying the initial push isn’t theirs to make.

State officials acknowledge that they are a lot more worried about keeping kids safe — meaning, for starters, alive — than in heading off seemingly subtle pollution threats. The high-profile deaths of two children in state-licensed day cares — one an accidental drowning in 2004, the other a death from E. coli in 2010 — focused regulators’ attention on acute threats to children.

Editor's note: This article has been edited for length. 

Source: Investigate West

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Diesel fumes cause 6 percent of lung cancer deaths: Study

The World Health Organization concluded last year that diesel exhaust is carcinogenic

An estimated 6 percent of lung cancer deaths in the United States and the United Kingdom – 11,000 deaths per year – may be due to diesel exhaust, according to a new study.

Emission standards for diesel engines have become more stringent in recent years, but their exhaust still plays a significant role in lung cancer deaths among truckers, miners and railroad workers, the authors wrote. In addition, diesel exhaust still poses a major cancer threat for people living in dense cities or near highways, they said.

Truckers and miners exposed over their careers to diesel exhaust face a risk of deadly lung cancer that is almost 70 times higher than the risk considered acceptable under U.S. occupational standards.

Traffic exhaust can
affect people's health.

The scientists calculated the lifetime risk for these workers at up to 689 extra lung cancer deaths per 10,000 workers exposed. In comparison, one cancer death per 1,000 workers is used to set federal workplace standards.

In addition, people in urban areas face a lifetime risk of lung cancer that is 10 times higher than the acceptable risk used in U.S. health standards, according to the study.

An estimated 21 per 10,000 people exposed to the amount of diesel exhaust commonly found near U.S. highways would be at risk of dying of lung cancer over their lifetime. That compares to the risk of one death per 100,000 people that is used to set air-quality standards.

To come up with their calculations, the researchers from Emory University and several other U.S. and European institutions used data from three previous studies of workers – two of truckers and one of non-metal miners – as well as national death statistics for the United States and United Kingdom.

They estimated that 4.8 percent of lung cancer deaths in the United States and 1.3 percent in the United Kingdom were due to environmental and occupational exposures to diesel exhaust.

“With millions of workers currently exposed to such levels, and likely higher levels in the past, the impact on the current and future lung cancer burden could be substantial,” the authors wrote.

The researchers said their estimates “are far from precise and depend on broad assumptions.” But they said their findings are “generally consistent” with past findings.

Other factors, such as smoking, were not taken into account. They used the assumption that smoking does not modify effects of diesel exhaust.

The World Health Organization concluded last year, after reviewing health data for workers, that diesel exhaust is carcinogenic.

Diesel emissions have declined substantially over the past few years in the United States and Europe since new engine standards were initiated.

More than 50,000 high-polluting diesel engines were cleaned up or removed from U.S. roads between 2008 and 2010, according to an Environmental Protection Agency report. About 230,000 tons of soot and smog-causing pollutants were eliminated, according to the report.

However, while buses and trucks have largely adopted cleaner technology, it’s taken longer for off-road engines, such as farm and construction vehicles.

Source: Environmental Health News

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Study to examine firefighter exposure to chemicals

Firefighters are exposed to airborne chemicals and particles,
which can linger on their suits and equipment.
Courtesy of nokhoog_buchachon/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A dirty turnout suit after a fire used to be a point of pride for firefighters.

The times have changed, and research now shows firefighters are at a greater risk of developing cancer because of exposure to toxic chemicals while fighting fires.

A recently published study of firefighters in California from Dr. Susan Shaw, an environmental scientist based in Blue Hill, found higher levels of chemicals from commercial flame retardants and other household materials than expected, increasing firefighters’ risk of developing cancer later in life.

Showing the actual health outcomes of the chemical exposure, however, is the goal of a new 15-year study Shaw presented Thursday morning to Ober, other municipal officials and firefighters and fire chiefs from across the state at the annual meeting of the Maine Fire Chiefs’ Association at the Augusta Civic Center.

The meeting was part of the annual Maine Municipal Association Convention held Wednesday and Thursday.

Shaw, founder and president of the Blue Hill-based Marine Environmental Research Institute, said the study will follow 50 Maine firefighters over a 15-year period, analyzing their blood after fires to determine the levels of chemicals and cancer indicators.

The California study found two to three times higher levels of chemicals from flame retardants — polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs — than most of the population.

The high levels of toxic chemicals place firefighters at a higher risk, but the longer-term study will try to identify the chemicals that factor in the development of cancer. Shaw said the study is the first of its kind.

“Exposure has not been adequately assessed in firefighters, and the relationship between firefighter and cancer risk is not well understood,” she said, “so the research we’re going to do here in Maine will be a model for future studies.”

Toxic chemicals found in most homes

She said some chemicals have been phased out of production, and several states, including Maine, have banned some types of flame retardants. Yet the chemicals still are commonly found in homes in plastics, foam, furniture, carpets, mattresses, TVs and computers.

Shaw said the flame retardants have been shown to save only a few seconds of ignition time; but when burned, they produce twice as much smoke, 13 times as much toxic carbon monoxide and thousands times more soot.

The Maine study is in the planning phase, Shaw said, but it’s set to begin next year. The firefighters haven’t been chosen yet, and the study probably will select them from larger departments, she said.

Firefighters participating in the study will learn of their blood results but will have the option of whether they want them shared, Shaw said. As in the California study, the firefighters’ names will remain confidential.

Shaw told the audience that in order to reduce the risk of exposure, fire departments should decontaminate gear after each fire; enforce the wearing of air-packs, even after the fire has been put out; not allow firefighters to take dirty gear home; regularly clean the interior of trucks; and have spare turnout suits to use when the others are being cleaned.

Augusta Fire Department Chief Roger Audette, who attended the presentation, said his department took steps in the last two years to reduce the risk for its firefighters by purchasing gas meters and ensuring the air is safe before allowing firefighters to take off their air-packs.

The department also has washing machines on site for the firefighters’ gear. Audette said now it’s common for newly built fire stations to have separate rooms to store suits and equipment between calls, a contrast to the prior practice, and current practice in other fire departments, of air-drying turnout suits in the station.
“It’s a big change,” he said.

Source: Kennebec Journal

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Better air reduces death and disability rates: Study

Death and disability from air pollution down 35 percent in the U.S.

Air pollution affects hospital admissions,
mortality rates and cardiovascular disease,
research has shown.

A study by BYU professor Arden Pope concludes that improvements in U.S. air quality since 1990 have sparked a 35 percent reduction in deaths and disability specifically attributable to air pollution. Pope was a member of a large research team who co-authored the study for the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"Some of the best news relative to the air pollution research over the last few years is the evidence that our reducing air pollution in the United States has resulted in measurable improvements in life expectancy and public health," said Pope in a press release.

It's no coincidence that 1990 is a point of reference in air quality research. In the late '80s, a steel mill in Utah Valley shut down for one year due to a labor strike. Pope spotted a research opportunity that found big problems caused by small particles floating in the air. Known as "particulate matter," this kind of pollution is produced by combustion of car engines, power plants and steel mills.

Air pollution impacts lungs, heart and brain

Pope and other scholars found in successive studies that dirty air impacted hospital admissions, mortality rates, and cardiovascular disease – including the risk of heart attacks.

"One of the biggest surprises of this research was that air pollution contributed to cardiovascular disease and not just respiratory disease," Pope said. "In fact, we're learning that air pollution not only impacts our lungs but it impacts our heart and our brain."

The research caught the attention of scientists and regulators, which lead to automobile emissions standards and cleaner manufacturing processes.

Now a world-renowned expert on the topic, Pope was asked this year to evaluate the credibility of an intriguing study on China's air quality by scientists at MIT, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Editors of the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science invited Pope to write a commentary that accompanied a research paper on China's Huai River policy.

The Huai River runs west to east and is regarded as the geographical dividing line between northern and southern China. In winter, the Chinese government provides free coal to residents north of the river to heat their homes.

In denying coal to people who live south of the river, the Chinese government actually did them a favor. The researchers found that air pollution is 55 percent lower on the south side. They also estimated that life expectancy was five years lower on the north side because of the extra air pollution.

"While their results tend to be a bit higher than what we'd expect based on the rest of the literature, it's still roughly consistent with what we would expect based on the other studies that we've been doing," Pope said.

Source: Brigham Young University 

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