And people don’t believe me when I say it’s harder to breathe in this state?
State fails soot, ozone tests, report says
Efforts to clean air cited by advocates
By Michael Schroeder
The Journal Gazette
Indiana failed, but it’s getting better and it has company.
That was the air quality prognosis, according to the American Lung Association State of the Air: 2006 Report released Thursday. The report said federal efforts to control air pollution from power plants are paying off and urged the Environmental Protection Agency to curb pollution from marine and locomotive sources.
The report, which focuses on particle – or soot – and ozone pollution, found that 96 percent of monitored counties in the state – including Allen and Huntington counties, the only counties monitored in the area – received failing grades.
The report indicated 4.5 million people in 27 monitored counties breathe air with dangerously high levels of ozone pollution, and nearly 2 million people in 19 monitored counties are exposed to high levels of particle pollution.
But that doesn’t necessarily put Indiana at the bottom of the list. Nationally, the report estimated that 150 million Americans live in counties where they are exposed to unhealthy levels of particle pollution, ozone pollution, or both.
“We’re in the middle,” said Nancy Turner, president of the American Lung Association of Indiana, regarding states’ standing.
About one-third of counties in Indiana and around the country have air quality monitors. Measures from those monitors from 2002 to 2004 were used for the report.
The findings seem to fly in face of recent improvements in Allen County and other counties. Allen County learned last December that its three-year average for ozone pollution had fallen below the federal limits. The county had exceeded those limits in the past, forcing it to be designated as a non-attainment area.
Being classified as non-attainment not only signifies a county has too much ozone pollution in its air; it also places a more restrictive permitting process on businesses. The county is now seeking to have its status returned to attainment.
“I think the air quality is better than an F in this area,” said Tony Burrus, co-chairman of the Allen County-Fort Wayne ozone task force. He was disheartened that improvements in air quality – especially those in 2005 – weren’t accounted for in grading.
“It is regrettable, the lack of timeliness,” Turner agreed, referring to the report’s 2002-04 range and Indiana’s recent strides in air quality improvement. Given the sheer scope of the report, she said that more time was required, adding that it still serves to “heighten awareness.”
Burrus said efforts to improve air quality continue. Those include public education and a planned county-sponsored gas can exchange to provide residents with more environmentally friendly canisters.
All the same, Burrus was somewhat skeptical of the American Lung Association report’s findings.
“It is a little inconceivable that we have that many counties in the failing range,” Burrus said, conceding that he didn’t know the intricacies of its grading system. He also expressed disappointment that the failing grade for high-ozone days didn’t differentiate Allen County from heavy polluters, such as Lake County. But Allen County received a passing grade while Lake County failed the other category: annual particle pollution days.
Also invoking Lake County, Turner conceded that grades alone don’t tell the whole story. But, she said that a line in the sand needed to be drawn. As with other measures the ALA is guided by Environmental Protection Agency standards in determining high-ozone days, she said. More than nine high-ozone days (each of which would typically prompt a public alert to forgo mowing the lawn or using a drive-through) in the three-year period would prompt a failing grade. For an A, a county couldn’t have a single high-ozone day. While no Indiana county achieved that mark, Gibson County in the southern part of the state managed a B with only one high-ozone day.
“I think it’s steep,” Turner said of the grading system. “But there always has to be a level of ideal.”
Allen County had 19 high-ozone days during that period, but got better marks for lower levels of particle pollution.
Turner attributed the county’s passing grade in that category to ongoing city-county efforts to reduce pollution. Huntington County had 12 high-ozone days. Data on particle pollution weren’t collected in the county.
Turner said that poor air quality can further aggravate symptoms of asthma sufferers. In general, children and seniors are most sensitive to poor air quality, although pollution can make it harder for anyone to breathe, she said.
Put simply, she said, “It’s not good for us.”
Here in Richmond Va. they are talking about doing away with the cleaner burning fuel this summer because of the high costs to produce it. Cleaner lungs or save money? The political people are looking for votes in wallets not health.