MVCAC July 2017

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Fwd: Eat Air Pollution "Dessert" at our Air Fair Exhibit
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 28 Jul '17

28 Jul '17

> From: Group Against Smog and Pollution <jamin(a)gasp-pgh.org> > Date: July 28, 2017 > Subject: Eat Air Pollution "Dessert" at our Air Fair Exhibit > Reply-To: Group Against Smog and Pollution <jamin(a)gasp-pgh.org> > > > > > Group Against Smog and Pollution improves air quality to ensure human, environmental, and economic health for our region. > Join GASP > > Facebook > > Twitter > > Website > > Email > Share > Tweet > Forward > Clean Air Lovers: Assemble! > > "GASP for Clean Air! Sources, Symptoms, and Solutions" is an art exhibit put on by GASP and hosted at Assemble throughout August 2017. This family-friendly exhibit focuses on air quality issues impacting Southwestern PA and what they mean for the people who live here. Through a variety of interactive installations, the exhibit addresses how air quality interacts with environmental justice, human health, and life in an increasingly industrialized world. > > Join us at the Air Fair on August 10th from 6-8 p.m.! Explore our art exhibit while snacking on free "air pollution desserts," courtesy of Shelby Brewster, from the University of Pittsburgh. Meet representatives from organizations invested in our region’s air quality, and learn what these groups are doing to better the air we breathe and how you can play a role. > > Along with the Air Fair, the exhibit will be open to the public on the following days: > August 4th from 6-10 p.m.: This day coincides with Unblurred: First Fridays. We will have pig lungs (!), a slime-making station, and our exhibit will be ready to explore. > August 14th from 6-8 p.m.: Exhibit is open to the public. There will also be an opportunity for kids to get crafty! > August 21st from 6-8 p.m.: Exhibit is open to the public. We will also be showing a short film about Clairton's air pollution entitled “Toxic Air in Steam Valley.” > Ready to attend? RSVP for the Air Fair now or contact Chelsea at chelsea(a)gasp-pgh.org to learn more. See you there! > CMU Looking for Volunteers to Host Air Monitors: Special Need for Mon Valley Residents > > From our friends at CMU: > Have you ever wondered about the quality of air you breathe at home, at work, and in between? > Do you bicycle to work for the exercise benefits (or want to!), but worry that it increases your exposure to air pollution? > Are you a teacher interested in exposing your students to real-world data? > The CMU RAMP network can help you answer these questions, and more! The Real-time, Affordable, Multi-Pollutant (RAMP) air quality monitor measures carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and fine particulates. Volunteers are especially needed to host the RAMP sensors in locations in the Mon Valley from Braddock to Clairton to improve our knowledge of air quality in our neighborhoods. If you know someone in this region, please share this information with them, > > CMU will provide the monitors, mounting equipment, extension cords, etc., and access to the data as well through a web site. Read here a recent Allegheny Front article about the program. > > Learn more and register here. > CommentAiry > > "'The [DEP] permits were massively deficient, the construction is designed wrong and pipe is being laid in the wrong places." A Pennsylvania judge halts Mariner East 2 pipeline construction under waterways for two weeks after a number of spills and leaks. > Together, we can make a difference in our region's environment. We won't trade or sell your email address with other organizations or inundate you with messages. Visit our website at gasp-pgh.org or call us at (412) 924-0604 for more information or to become a member today. We can't do this without you! > Copyright © 2017 Group Against Smog and Pollution, All rights reserved. > Thanks for receiving our air news and for being engaged! > > Our mailing address is: > Group Against Smog and Pollution > 1133 South Braddock Avenue > Suite 1A > Edgewood, PA 15218 > > Add us to your address book > > > unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences > >

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AIR POLLUTION: 'Sue and settle' critic Pruitt abides by NOx consent decree -- July 17, 2017 -- www.eenews.net
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 19 Jul '17

19 Jul '17

https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060057465 AIR POLLUTION: 'Sue and settle' critic Pruitt abides by NOx consent decree From an Article by Sean Reilly, E&E News, Greenwire: July 17, 2017 After a five-year review, U.S. EPA has proposed leaving unchanged its two primary air quality standards for nitrogen oxides. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, acting under a court-ordered deadline, signed a rulemaking notice Friday, and then it was quietly posted on an agency website. "This proposed decision has been informed by a careful consideration of the full body of scientific evidence and information available in this review," the draft rule says, citing the recommendations of EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and an agency assessment of recent research into the health effects of nitrogen oxides. The proposal will have a 60-day comment period upon publication in the Federal Register, accompanied by a public hearing if requested. Under a settlement clinched earlier this year in response to a lawsuit by two environmental groups, EPA must have the final rule in place by next April (Greenwire, May 1). NOx — with nitrogen dioxide serving as a regulatory stand-in for the broader class of gases — is a key ingredient in smog. Major sources are cars, trucks and coal-fired power plants. Exposure to low levels can irritate the eyes, nose and throat, while inhalation over a day or two can lead to fluid buildup in the lungs, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Under the Clean Air Act, primary air quality standards are intended to protect public health. For nitrogen oxides, EPA's annual standard of 53 parts per billion dates back to 1971, supplemented by a one-hour 100 ppb limit added in 2010. The decision to leave the current thresholds in place represents a victory for carmakers and other industry groups. Dissenting was the American Lung Association, which had argued in a filing in November that the one-hour standard should be tightened to allow for a "margin of safety" for asthma sufferers. NOx is among a half-dozen "criteria pollutants" named in the act. EPA is supposed to review and — if warranted — revise the thresholds for those pollutants every five years in light of available scientific research. In practice, the agency is chronically late. Under the law, for example, the NOx review should have concluded two years ago. It took the lawsuit brought last year by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Environmental Health to prod the agency into agreeing to hard deadlines. While Pruitt, like other Republicans, has derided what he calls "sue-and-settle" deals, he made no attempt to undo the consent decree that had been tentatively reached under the Obama administration and was made final in April. The same consent decree also applies to a new review of the standards for sulfur oxides, with a proposed rulemaking due by next May. The NOx review, launched in 2012, was a relatively sleepy affair in comparison with the tumult that surrounded the agency's decision two years ago to reset the ozone standard. By EPA's estimate, total NOx releases have fallen more than 60 percent since 1980, with the decline expected to continue as stricter vehicle emissions limits take effect. There are no areas in the United States now in nonattainment for either the annual or hourly benchmarks. Agency officials had signaled their intent to stick with the status quo last fall with the release of a draft policy assessment that found current evidence "does not call into question any of the elements of the current standards" (Greenwire, Sept. 28, 2016). In a March report, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, a group of outside experts, seconded that conclusion. The policy assessment was made final soon afterward. The secondary NOx standard, designed to protect ecosystems, was not part of the review. It remains at 53 ppb on an average annual basis.

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MVCAC July 2017