This week is Air Quality Awareness Week, and none too soon as a great deal of education is needed about our current air quality and how different power plants and transportation systems affect the air we breathe.
Go to http://www.epa.gov/airnow/airaware/index.html.
EPA has created an Air Quality Index and scales for 5 pollutants--ground level ozone, particle pollution, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. The scales come with color codes for air quality ranging from green for healthy to dark purple for hazardous
You can see local air quality forecasts everyday by going to http://www.airnow.gov/. See what the air is like right now in Pennsylvania for example.
Cleaning up, refueling with gas, or closing 40 plus year old power plants and replacing black smoke belching diesel buses and trucks with natural gas powered vehicles are among the best things that can be done to finish the job of cleaning our air.
As the natural gas industry builds its production infrastructure in Pennsylvania, it is vital that the cleanest engine options be installed so that the mistakes in Wyoming are not repeated.
Other things that help substantially are conserving energy, building renewable energy projects, and buying clean electricity products that are now available in every electric service territory in Pennsylvania.
replacing black smoke belching diesel buses and trucks with natural gas powered vehicles are among the best things that can be done to finish the job of cleaning our air.
ReplyDeleteit is vital that the cleanest engine options be installed so that the mistakes in Wyoming are not repeated.
BUT IF THE MISTAKES ARE REPEATED (AND ISN'T CURRENT PRACTICE IN PA REPEATING THOSE WYOMING MISTAKES AS WE SPEAK?) THEN IS THE PUSH AND STRONG SUPPORT THAT YOU GIVE TO SHALE GAS DRILLING REALLY JUSTIFIED?
When I left DEP on January 18th, the mistakes of Wyoming were not being repeated. Vigilance on this crucial issue going forward is vital. DEP did after January 18th reopen and resubmit for public comment the crucial air aggregation policy. The Clean Air Act must be followed and enforced. Technologies exist right now to limit emissions and the Clean Air Act requires their adoption. There are also numerous parties that will bring suits if it is not followed. Those possible parties include NY Ag, NJ Governor Christie, other downwind states, EPA/DOJ, ngos, potentially other industries/companies whose location and expansion decisions are impacted.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of pressures to get the air permitting right.
There are a number of scenarios going forward.
Worst case: Wyoming mistake is repeated PLUS Pennsylvania does not use natural gas to replace old coal fired plants and belching black smoke diesel vehicles. We must avoid both segments of the worst case scenario: repeating Wyoming and not using cleaner gas in plants and vehicles.
Best Case Scenario: Pennsylvania/EPA requires clean compressor engines and so on PLUS Pa DOES clean up, refuel with gas, or close 11,000 megawatts of old coal fired plants and DOES aggressively move to natural gas vehicles, electric vehicles, and biodiesel.
There are also intermediate scenarios between best and worst.
The difference between the worst and best case scenario is tens of thousands of lives, billions of dollars of costs, and tens of thousands of jobs. The best case scenario is cleaner, less expensive when costs and benefits are included, and creates more jobs.