We keep hearing that Carlisle’s air quality is declining, and yet a story in Wednesday’s Sentinel says the state Department of Environmental Protection is going to ask the federal Environmental Protection Agency to upgrade the local area’s pollution profile.
As often happens when governmental agencies are involved, it’s a question of definition. A 2005 American Lung Association study listed the Harrisburg-Carlisle-Lebanon area as having the 24th worst air quality overall. PennEnvironment ranked the region ninth worst for chronic fine particle, or soot, pollution among mid-sized metropolitan areas.
But the state’s own study is concerned specifically with ozone, which it says is now within federal limits based on data it collected over the last four years. The EPA currently lists our region in the non-attainment classification, and the DEP wants Cumberland, Dauphin, Lebanon and Perry counties to be on the EPA’s “attainment” list.
Part of the decision to request the upgraded status is Pennsylvania’s adoption of the stricter California emissions standards for new cars and light trucks. State officials say new 2008 vehicles in Pennsylvania will be cleaner-burning than they would otherwise be, which should contribute to even better air quality in future years.
Kathleen McGinty, the secretary of DEP, points out that EPA compliance relates directly to a region’s economic growth. When pollution can be reduced in cars, it becomes less likely that existing businesses will be subjected to stricter standards. It also means that expanding businesses will consider a region’s pollution profile when deciding whether to locate a new facility there.
But if you’re wondering how the ozone question can be separate from the soot question, well, we’re stumped by that, too. While we’re all for maintaining our community’s economic viability, we hope that human health questions aren’t going to be subordinated to bureaucratic games played over specific definitions of air pollution.
Here in the Carlisle area, we’re specifically concerned with what appears to be a localized spike in soot pollution, which has been attributed to the large number of diesel trucks that serve the growing warehouse sector in our community. We doubt that an improved air pollution designation from the EPA will help us find the means to mitigate this problem — in fact, it may even work against us if local authorities attempt to seek funding for pollution abatement projects.
It’s nice to be thought of as being in “attainment,” but it’s probably better in the long run if we accept the most accurate definition of our air pollution status.
