A blog about Health & Wellness and Kern County.
|
Criminal Behavior by Air District Air Was Unhealthy For Everyone IS TAP WATER SAFE? Damaging Young Lungs Phlegm and Chest Pain AIR DISTRICT LIES Death Sentence rubber stamp on bad air Flies No. 1 Polluter? November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 
RSS 2.0    Share!
|
|
Ozone Levels Damage Young Lungs
There is no doubt that Wednesday's afternoon ozone levels were very unhealthy in Kern County. Yet, were any cross country meets cancelled? Today and tomorrow will also be in the high unhealthy range for ozone pollution. Will any football games be postponed until Saturday morning instead of being played at the worst time of the day on Friday afternoon and early evening? Our Air District (Brenda Turner) needs to tell Athletic Commissioner Jim Crichlow to get out the stick and start protecting the health of our youth. They should also get the Superintendent of Schools involved. Why is the decision to protect the lungs of kids left up to individual schools? Article Not Quite Accurate
Today's tragic Californian story on the football player's death is well written and researched except for one fact. quote from article: Based on air quality that day — in a range unhealthy for sensitive groups — the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District guidelines recommend outdoor activity only before 10 a.m. The air quality that day may have been predicted to be unhealthy for sensitive groups but it turned out to be unhealthy for everyone which is a much more serious air quality category where vigorous sports practice should not be taking place under any circumstances. The AQI is based on the maximum readings for each county. The San Joaquin Valley maximum eight-hour ozone readings that day turned out to be 105, 103, and 108 ppm in Kern, Tulare, and Fresno Counties respectively. The unhealthy range begins at 96 ppb and goes up to 115 ppb. These are federal standards.
Bakersfield Wells Contaminated With Cancer Causing Chemical
At least 25 wells serving the City of Bakersfield are contaminated with 1,2,3-TCP. The different levels of TCP in each city well from 2002 to 2006 can be found at this California Department of Public Health web page. The Consumer Confidence Report for Bakersfield states that TCP is the only chemical in our water exceeding the government health standard. TCP is a known and strong carcinogen in lab animals. It is an item of concern to those drinking the water and to those breathing the vapors from the water such as when bathing or washing with hot water. The Public Health Goal for TCP is .0007 micrograms per liter (ug/L). This is basically the lowest level at which the chemical can be detected. The Consumer Confidence Report says the average for all Bakersfield wells is .02 ug/L This makes the TCP levels in Bakersfield water about 30 times higher than the Public Health Goal. Certain wells are worse than others. The highest reading reported in the CCR is .27 ug/L. Several wells have levels approaching this level. People drinking the water from those wells may be exposed to far higher levels of TCP than residents in other parts of the city. Why is this allowed? Basically, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and Cal EPA have neglected their duty to determine a Maximum Contaminant Level for this chemical. The process is underway but can be, and has been, stalled for many years from the influence of certain industries such as DOW and Shell which are responsible for allowing the release of the chemical in the first place. So, there is no law yet requiring a municipal water system to do anything about the contamination. The solution is a series of carbon filters which have been shown to effectively remove this chemical. We have soiled our nest and now we need to pay the piper. It is estimated to cost around 25 million to install the system of filters for the entire water supply. If 25 lives are prevented from getting cancer and dying prematurely it is worth the investment.
What are we doing to our youth?
Making 14 to 18 year old boys and girls practice football and cross country is ok when the temperature is over 100. It is not ok when the air quality is unhealthy as it was this past week. The ozone levels we experienced were well above the federal standard for most of the week. This damages the lungs of all ages. The young won't notice this damage so much right now because they generally have excess lung capacity. It shows up chronically in the 50's and 60's when lung capacity starts to drop naturally. It is similar to a knee injury a 16 year old suffers during football practice. He can recover fine now but may need joint replacement when age 55. We need to take better care of these kids. Twice a day football practices need to be curtailed when the air is this bad. Air District Not Doing Job
We had promises of steady and continued improvement two years ago. We also had promises of attainment of the federal health standard by 2024 which was too long in many peoples' minds. They didn't tell us our air would actually get worse before it got better. How does a public health agency like our air district get away with this crap? What part of our economy is more important than our health? Check out the chart for June and the first part of July. Our ozone readings are 8% worse than the past couple years. Just like our recent fall and winter particulate problems were worse. The smoke is bad enough but this ozone problem has nothing to do with the smoke. It is a combination of heat, stagnant air, NOX from vehicles and volatile organic compounds (number one source: dairies). Our air would still be hazy from the first two ingredients but it is deadly after mixing in the last two.
What progress?
One reason given for not approving a stricter cleanup plan for the ultra-fine particulate matter we are plagued with, was the huge improvement the local air district has made since 1999. Keep in mind, we now know that we are dying, on average, 10 years earlier, than those fortunate to live with cleaner air. www.fresnobee.com/263/story/621822.html State officials said the region's concentrations of the pollutant have dropped by 45% since 1999. ...."Tremendous progress has been made here," said state board chairwoman Mary Nichols. "In fairness, the district has been doing a good job." Well, everyone knows it is easy to play with statistics in order to prove a point. Mark Twain said, "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics." I can play that game also. I looked at the readings taken at California and Stockdale since 1999 during a ten week period covering the months of November and December when PM 2.5 readings are often high. The federal health standard is 35 (micrograms per cubic meter) although many say that is not low enough. From 1999 to 2006 there is an improvement of around 45% in the number of days over the standard. If you go to 2007, the improvement drops to 38%. If you only look at the past five years it is shocking to see that every year the number of exceedences has increased. In 2003 there were only 13 days of killer air during this 70 day period. In 2004, 21 days. In 2005, 24 days. In 2006, 25 days. In 2007, 30 days. That is a 231% increase over the last 5 years in contrast to the district claim of a 45% improvement over the past nine years. It all depends on your assumptions and baselines. Why has the air worsened over the past five years? I can only speculate that since ammonium nitrate is the main particulate causing the PM 2.5 violations it is the tremendous growth in Kern County dairies which coincides with these same five years. Ammonium nitrate needs two ingredients in our air. NOX from cars and trucks and ammonia from dairies. Our NOX levels have actually decreased the past five years due to natural fleet turnover to cleaner burning vehicles. Our ammonia levels have skyrocketed during the same time. The attached graphs are from CARB. I have estimated the number of violations through rough interpolation where gaps appear and I have not counted with extreme accuracy those violation days very near to the standard which is the black line. The scale changes on some of the graphs as well. Although the exact numbers may be disputed, the fact our air is getting worse and not better the past five years is indisputable. Note: there are no local measurements for PM 2.5 before 1999.
CARB Does It Again
Even after the shocking news that people are dying ten years earlier due to the exact particulate problem we suffer from in Kern County and the San Joaquin Valley, CARB rubber stamped a do nothing particulate clean up plan formulated by our local good-for-nothing air district. The plan simply relies on natural fleet turnover to reduce NOX and a truck rule that the state has not yet passed and won't do anything significant for at least five more years, if at all. We will probably never see the serious plan that goes after all sources of our pollution such as VOC's and ammonia emissions from dairies and a major clamp down on sprawling development and the oil industry.
It is not dust and soot that are the major part of the problem either. It is ammonium nitrate. This fact is brushed off while everyone at the air district points the finger at fireplaces. Fireplace smoke can aggravate asthma attacks but it doesn't enter the bloodstream and destroy the heart, lungs, and brain like the ammonium nitrate particles in our air.
www.bakersfield.com/102/story/452227.html
Cleanup Plan Up for Approval by State Air Board
In Fresno on Thursday the California Air Resources Board will meet to consider approval of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District's particulate matter cleanup plan. In the past they have rubber stamped every weak plan put out by the district resulting in years of delay to any significant progress in cleaning our air. New information will be presented at the meeting showing that people living in polluted places like Bakersfield die 10 years earlier on average. We will see if that information makes a difference to the state authorities this time around. 24,000 deaths per year in California linked to air pollution
Fly Solution?
If, like me, you live a few miles from several of those newly arrived factory-run-mega-dairies, you may have noticed more flies than usual during the spring, summer, and fall. These dairies weren't around a few years ago and many people around me think the flies are now worse than they used to be. I can't prove a specific fly comes from a particular dairy but I do know flies can travel a mile or two per day. It doesn't take them long to find homes to bother. Why they want to leave those manure piles I will never figure out. Anyway, I have taken to planting bulbs of insect eating plants to which flies seem fatally attracted. This spring I will have flowers blooming for about one month straight. I don't know if I can get these things to bloom in the fall but it is theoretically possible. Free fly traps like these are fairly easy to grow in any case. The only drawback is the slight odor of dead meat coming out of the cavernous trap deep inside the flower.
Are Cows Number One?
The Californian is questioning Thompson's billboard which implies cows are a major source of our air pollution. Campaign ad watch: Clearing the air on dairy pollution Sure, we have lots of trucks and cars on our roads spewing tons of NOX into our air. Diesel trucks also put out plenty of diesel soot to add to our particulate problem. But, two ingredients are needed to form smog, VOC's and NOX. One without the other is relatively harmless. Cows are the number one producer of VOC's. My car puts out less than 10 lbs of VOC's in a year. A single cow is responsible for 20 lbs. Although diesel soot, fireplace smoke, and dust help to make our particulate problem one of the worst in the nation, the major part of our particulate pollution is the ammonium nitrate that forms during the cool months of the year. This is created by the mixing of NOX and ammonia. Again, one without the other is benign. Cows are by far our biggest source of ammonia pollution. The paper cannot so easily state that Thompson is wrong when he puts up a billboard saying cows are the number one polluter. Assumptions are everything with such statements. Also, Watson not only scoffed and criticized Wasco citizens's attempt to vote for a buffer zone against dairies, he also fought against a 3 mile dairy buffer zone for all Kern County cities and schools. Corn Ethanol Wastes BillionsThe USDA says that increased biofuel production (the product we make in the
www.turnto23.com/news/16134882/detail.html
Group Files Suits Against Central Valley Ethanol Plants Irritated Residents Say Proposed Plants Aren't So Green
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Opponents of several proposed ethanol plants are clearing the air about health hazards they said the plants pose.
Members of the Association of Irritated Residents, or AIR, have filed suit to stop a corn ethanol plant proposed near Famoso.
They said toxic air emissions from both the plant and trucks going to and from the plant weren't properly analyzed in the environmental impact report.
They've also filed suit against $200 million plant proposals for Wasco and Hanford, which AIR claims would use Mid-western and not central valley-grown corn.
AIR is a central valley-based group. The president of the group is Tom Frantz of Shafter, who is a Wasco High math teacher.
Their April lawsuit against the proposed Hanford ethanol plant may delay the construction of the facility, which was to begin during the summer, according to the Fresno Bee.
Officials argue the facility will be “the cleanest plant in the industry,” but AIR disagrees.
"This issue is addressing the EIR, but what I really hope can happen is they also have more time to take another look at the big picture," Frantz said in an interview with the Fresno Bee.
A new May 1 report from the American Lung Association claims California's central valley, a more than 300-mile area in Central California that stretches from Sacramento to Bakersfield, is one of the most polluted areas in the U.S. They ranked Bakersfield as the second-most polluted U.S. city, while also giving high pollution rankings to Fresno, Visalia-Porterville and Hanford-Corcoran -- all central valley cities. In 2007, Arvin, Calif., which is just 25 miles south of Bakersfield, was touted as having the poorest air quality in the U.S.
Copyright 2008 by TurnTo23.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
In Case Anyone Missed It
Poor air quality kills. People die sooner when the air is bad. Here's the latest.
From the American Lung Association Top Ten U.S. Cities Most Polluted by Short-Term Particle Pollution: 1) Pittsburgh, Pa. 2) Los Angeles/Long Beach/Riverside, Calif. 3) Fresno/Madera, Calif. 4) Bakersfield, Calif. Top Ten U.S. Cities Most Polluted by Year-Round Particle Pollution: 1) Los Angeles/Long Beach/Riverside, Calif. 2) Pittsburgh, Pa. 3) Bakersfield, Calif. Top Ten U.S. Cities Most Polluted by Ozone: 1) Los Angeles/Long Beach/Riverside, Calif. 2) Bakersfield, Calif.
They Do Less Rather Than MoreYou would think improving the health of residents would be the top priority for a health agency like the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. No, saving businesses money is their goal.
Air board OKs new plan
Activists say strategy to clean up soot, debris will take too long, may not work.
04/30/08 23:54:00
The regional air board Wednesday adopted a new cleanup plan for soot and chemical debris that cause early death for more than 1,000 Valley residents each year -- but activists say it will take too long and might not work at all.
The fine particles would drop to safe levels by 2014, officials said. The plan tightens rules on fireplace burning, glass-melting furnaces and even commercial charbroilers. But the cleanup relies on pollution reductions expected from a proposed diesel truck rule that state officials have not even passed yet. About 15 activists lined up outside the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District headquarters to demonstrate, and in the board room, some wore air masks. They said that for months, they have been suggesting other options, such as advanced pollution-control technology on farm diesel engines or filters on wine fermentation tanks. The options would speed up the cleanup by at least a year, and they would be a safety net if the state's diesel rule does not produce the reductions officials anticipate. Air officials said they have included every available measure. They said oil, farming and other industries Valley-wide are expected to pay a total of $20 billion over the next six years for new equipment and technologies. "We did not leave anything off the table," said Seyed Sadredin, the district's executive director. The Valley has one of the state's worst problems with fine particle pollution, called PM-2.5, which is at its highest levels in fall and winter. Some of the specks come from fires and vehicles, but much of the Valley's PM-2.5 problem occurs when chemicals combine in the air. Oxides of nitrogen -- NOx -- from vehicles combine with plumes of ammonia coming mostly from dairies to form a chemical speck called ammonium nitrate, which accounts for nearly half the region's PM-2.5. The Valley's biggest source of NOx is diesel trucks. The state's new diesel rule could be passed in the next year, but it has met with a lot of industry opposition. The rule's reductions are not supposed to begin until 2014, the same year the district projects completion of the PM-2.5 cleanup. That worries health activist Kevin Hamilton, a respiratory therapist. "We are buckling under the weight of visits to clinics for lung problems in this Valley," he said. PM-2.5 specks are so small that 30 or 40 of them could fit across the width of a human hair. They easily pass through the lungs into the bloodstream. They can trigger asthma attacks and heart problems, and they cause early death. The state estimates PM-2.5 causes more than 1,000 people to die prematurely each year in the Valley. Engineer Alvin Valeriano, a former air district employee, said he estimates the district could achieve the PM-2.5 standard by 2012 or 2013 -- if it pushes for new technologies. District officials said they are studying the suggestions and will use them as they become feasible. But there are problems with some of the ideas, such as switching diesel farm pumps to electric power, they said. "Many farmers have no access to the electricity for their pumps," Sadredin said. After the board meeting Wednesday, activists said they had been ignored. "Once again, our local air district is delaying clean air," said Catherine Garoupa, community organizer with Madera Coalition for Community Justice. The confrontation in the board room resembled last year's fight between activists and the district over the Valley's ozone plan, which the board also approved in a split vote. At the time, board newcomers Henry T. Perea of Fresno and Raji Brar of Arvin voted against the ozone plan. They sided with activists who said the plan would delay healthy air. This year, Perea and Brar were joined by Dr. John Telles, the newest district board member, as the dissenting votes. Gov. Schwarzenegger this month appointed the Fresno cardiologist to the board as a health expert. "Is there a possibility this plan could fail?" Telles asked. "We need more contingency measures in case that happens." But the plan was supported by seven county supervisors -- representing Fresno, Madera, Kings, Tulare, Kern, Stanislaus and San Joaquin -- and a city council member from Ceres in Stanislaus County. Board member Ronn Dominici, a Madera County supervisor, said the district must meet a federal deadline this month to approve a plan or face sanctions that include the possible loss of $2 billion in road-building funds. He said improvements will be made as they become available. "This plan has to go forward," he said.
Foolishness In Wasco Challenged
Local Environmental Group files suit against Proposed Wasco Ethanol Plant (KBAK video on lawsuit above) When the subsidies are gone this stupidity will stop. Corn is now $6.00 per bushel. One bushel of corn will produce 2.5 gallons of ethanol which has only 70% of the energy of gasoline. That makes the ethanol producer pay the farmer the equivalent of $3.43 per gallon for the corn alone. Only taxpayer subsidies of more than $1.30 per gallon keep these guys trying to build more plants, regardless of the associated environmental problems. Meanwhile, food prices are skyrocketing partly because of the high prices being paid for corn which is in short supply for the first time in over 50 years. (Bakersfield Californian article below) Ray Watson Pushes For New Sludge DumpOnly Rubio votes against the idea of allowing more sludge into Kern while the county is trying to ban it at the same time. Is this ironic or what? Hundreds of polluting trucks per day bringing nasty sludge to Kern County from Los Angeles. What else is new? See story here: www.bakersfield.com/hourly_news/story/404700.html Watson also welcomed Green Acres with open arms. Now Buena Vista Lake is full of coliform contamination from the sewage sludge being ploughed under continuously at Green Acres. Has anyone ever swam at Buena Vista recently and come home sick? Do you ever notice all the flies out there? Thank Watson and company.
one supervisor sees it that wayI have to agree with Supervisor Don Maben. He shows some common sense. All but one Supervisor approve corn ethanol plant “I can’t support this project,” said Supervisor Don Maben. “I can’t support a plant that converts food crops to fuel, that uses so much water when we have a shortage of water.” Unfortunately, his was the only dissenting voice. Idling Longer Than 5 Minutes is IllegalThe new 5 minute idling rule is not being enforced. Yesterday morning a dozen trucks were observed idling for much longer periods of time at the Flying J truck stop on Merced and Hwy 99. My friend tells me several trucks are still idling all night at the Flying J in Lebec. I understand the CHP would rather not enforce this law. They care more about speeders and drunks who kill other people. The problem is, the bad air, produced in part by these idling trucks, also kills. Air Board Chair Encourages Investment in Air QualityMary Nichols is chairman of the California Air Resources Board. She claims over the past 40 years that California has spent $85 billion in cleaning up the air. The benefits of this partial cleanup to the economy are estimated at $340 billion. She also claims the industry of cleaning our air is currently valued at close to $10 billion per year in jobs and manufacturing. Forbes Magazine article by Mary Nichols We have a long way to go to just meet federal standards for clean air. It has already been calculated that meeting these standards will be worth at least $3 billion per year to the economy of the San Joaquin Valley. It is time to again invest some serious money in air quality. It will be good for the economy. Equinox Sunset is Unique
I take the time to watch our hazy sunsets twice per year. I have always enjoyed seeing the sun set at the end of the road. The rest of the year the haze in our air usually makes the setting sun quite orange but it is not pretty in my opinion. It WorksI've been hanging up clothes for 35 years. My mother showed me how to do it before that. Whether you are trying to prevent "war for oil", save some money, lessen air pollution, make your clothes seem fresher, or reduce your carbon footprint; drying your clothes on the line is a relatively painless option. What are the savings? Each household could save the equivalent of 9 million Btu's per year which is maybe $10 per month in electric bills. If every household in America did the same, the equivalent energy found in 200 million barrels of oil could be saved. |
