Clean Air News

Pennsylvania ranked fourth nationwide for the worst year-round soot pollution in 2003. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia ranked fifth and 13th respectively for the highest year-round soot pollution among major U.S. cities in 2003, while Lancaster, York-Hanover, Harrisburg-Carlisle, Reading, and Allentown ranked sixth, seventh, 11th, 12th, and 22nd respectively for the highest year-round soot pollution among mid-sized U.S. cities in 2003. Johnstown ranked eighth for the highest year-round soot pollution among small U.S. cities.

Pennsylvania also ranked 11th nationwide for the worst ozone "smog" pollution in 2003. Smog levels in the Philadelphia metropolitan area exceeded EPA's 8-hour health standard 64 times and the 1-hour standard five times on 14 days in 2003, ranking the city eighth for the worst smog pollution among major U.S. cities.

"Many Pennsylvania cities made the top 25 lists that no city wants to be on," said PennEnvironment energy and clean air advocate Nathan Willcox. "The bottom line is Pennsylvania a serious air pollution problem, and children with asthma, senior citizens, and others with breathing problems are suffering the most."

Power plants are the nation's largest industrial source of air pollution, contributing 23 percent of smog-forming nitrogen oxide emissions and 67 percent of soot-forming sulfur dioxide emissions nationwide, according to EPA data. Motor vehicles also are a major source of nitrogen oxide emissions. This report comes as the Bush administration prepares to finalize weak and delayed air pollution standards for power plants in the Eastern U.S., while opening up new loopholes in the law. The plan would prevent future cleanup efforts, weaken protections in wilderness areas, let power plants emit more than 1.5 times more smog- and soot-forming pollution than the Clean Air Act allows, and not take full effect until 2015.

"Time and again the Bush administration has favored big energy companies over science and public health. They should reverse course and clean up dangerous power plant pollution," stated Willcox.

Much as sunburn affects the skin, smog burns the lungs and airways, affecting even a healthy person's ability to breathe and causing a host of respiratory problems, including asthma attacks, increased susceptibility to respiratory infections, and decreased lung function. In Pennsylvania, smog triggers 370,000 asthma attacks each year.

Soot is an even more dangerous pollutant because the tiny particles can lodge deep in the lungs or pass directly into the bloodstream, causing serious respiratory and cardiovascular problems, including heart attacks, lung cancer and premature death. In Pennsylvania, soot pollution from power plants alone causes 3,329 non-fatal heart attacks and 1,825 premature deaths each year.

PennEnvironment was joined by the American Lung Association of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Physicians for Social Responsibility, Clean Air Council, Group Against Smog and Pollution (G.A.S.P.), Jefferson Action Group, Inc., and the Lehigh Valley Sierra Club in releasing the report at press conferences in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, and Allentown.

"The air pollution threat may be invisible, but it is real—we know it can sicken, and we know it can kill," said Carolyn Wisniewski, Vice President for the American Lung Association of Pennsylvania. Wisniewski estimated that about 400,000 persons with chronic lung disease and nearly 900,000 people with heart disease were at special risk from air pollution in the 5-county Southeastern Pennsylvania area.

"A large study released this month in the New England Journal of Medicine documented that children living in polluted areas have a five fold greater risk of decreased lung function," said Dr. Joel Chinitz with Philadelphia Physicians for Social Responsibility. "This impairment occurred independent of asthma or smoking."

"Eighty-eight percent of Pennsylvanians live in areas that do not meet the federal government's basic air quality standards," said Arthur Stamoulis, Policy Analyst for Clean Air Council. "If we really want to protect the health of our children, power plants must be required to install modern pollution controls."

"I am the mother of two young sons, both asthmatics. I may not be a scientist, but I do know this-the health rooms in each of our district schools has cabinets devoted to just inhalers; all alphabetized, because there are so many," stated Lisa Graves Marcucci of Jefferson Action Group, Inc. Marcucci challenged all elected officials and regulators "to let science and medical facts dictate policy instead of corporate money."

"The high levels of ozone and particulate matter in the Pittsburgh area and statewide should act as an alarm to our state and local government officials," said Elizabeth Rosemeyer, policy and outreach coordinator for Group Against Smog and Pollution (G.A.S.P.). "This report points to the need for strong regulations to protect the health and welfare of our residents."

"President Bush is shortchanging the health of Allentown residents with the breaks he keeps giving to big business, especially the power plants and other polluters. Allentown residents need to send a strong message to Washington that the health of our children is not for sale," said Alisa Bauman, Chair of the Lehigh Valley Sierra Club.

"Danger in the Air: Unhealthy Levels of Air Pollution in 2003" is PennEnvironment's fifth annual analysis of air quality based on a survey of environmental agencies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. For the first time, the report examines levels of fine particle "soot" pollution in addition to ozone "smog" pollution. Key Pennsylvania findings include the following:

- Pennsylvania ranked fourth nationwide for the worst year-round soot pollution and second for the most spikes in soot pollution in 2003. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia ranked fifth and 13th respectively for the highest year-round soot pollution among major U.S. cities in 2003. Lancaster, York-Hanover, Harrisburg-Carlisle, Reading, and Allentown ranked 6th, 7th, 11th, 12th, and 22nd respectively for the highest year-round soot pollution among mid-sized U.S. cities in 2003. Johnstown ranked 8th for the highest year-round soot pollution among small U.S. cities. Yesterday, EPA released new data showing that soot-forming sulfur dioxide emissions from power plants increased in Pennsylvania by eight percent from 2002 to 2003.

- Pennsylvania ranked 11th nationwide for the worst smog pollution in 2003. Philadelphia ranked 8th worst for smog pollution among major U.S. cities, with 64 exceedances of EPA's 8-hour health protective standard on 14 days in 2003.
The report also includes preliminary smog data for 19 states and the District of Columbia for 2004, which, like 2003, has been a relatively mild and wet summer. Yet, ozone levels still exceeded EPA's 8-hour health standard 602 times and the 1-hour standard 84 times so far in 2004, including 34 exceedances of the 8-hour standard in Pennsylvania.

"We can't depend on the weather to protect us from polluted air. But we can, and the Bush administration should, dramatically cut the smokestack pollution that causes unhealthy smog levels," said Nathan Willcox.

Willcox called the Bush administration's record on air pollution "dismal," noting that President Bush recently implemented the most significant rollback of the Clean Air Act in the law's 34-year history. That policy, finalized in September 2003, allows old coal-fired power plants to virtually rebuild without ever installing modern pollution controls, further extending the lives of about 550 outdated plants-including the Hatfield's Ferry and Bruce Mansfield power plants in western Pennsylvania-that emit 98 percent of the smog-forming nitrogen oxide emissions and 99 percent of the soot-forming sulfur dioxide emissions from power plants.

PennEnvironment called on the Bush administration to substantially strengthen, accelerate, and finalize its proposal to cap soot- and smog-forming pollutants from power plants in the Eastern U.S. to adequately protect public health and comply with the Clean Air Act.