- Using 1 gas mower for 1 hour is equivalent to driving 1 car 140 miles.
CLEAN AIR MATTERS
Winter 2004 Edition
In this issue:
- State lawmakers to consider burn-ban legislation to protect public health in winter
- New state-funded effortprotects children’s health
- Stakeholders begin work on climate change goal
- An eyewitness report: Region cuts fine-particle pollution by 75%
- At a Tacoma company, switching solvents saves money, time
- Seattle Public Library purchases first natural-gas bookmobile in nation
- Meet our Advisory Council -- David Nemens: “A better way”
- Study links fine-particle pollution to heart disease
- Eight biodiesel stations now open to public
State lawmakers to consider burn-ban legislation to protect public health in winter
Every winter, episodes of cold, clear, calm weather bring temporary relief from soggy gray skies in western Washington — but those episodes also bring unhealthy air because air pollution is trapped close to the ground.
Children with asthma, adults with emphysema, seniors with heart disease all can become sicker, especially in neighborhoods where wood-smoke levels from indoor fires jump into the “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” category. Recent studies link elevated levels of fine particles, such as those in wood smoke, to an increase in asthma attacks, hospital admissions and even premature death.
That’s why changes in the state law governing burn bans are being requested by a coalition of community stakeholders, including the American Lung Association of Washington, other clean-air advocacy groups, the Northwest Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association, air quality agencies and the state Department of Ecology.
Representative Ruth Kagi has agreed to be the prime sponsor of a bill that would propose to revise the threshold, or “trigger,” for issuing temporary burn bans during winter episodes of stagnant air. What is a burn ban? See sidebar.
The revised burn-ban trigger would better protect public health because it would be based on the newer 1997 National Ambient Air Quality Standard for fine particles, called PM2.5. Fine particles (or “soot”) from wood smoke are much more harmful to people than coarse particles (or “dust”). So a fine-particle-based trigger is more applicable to health issues related to wood smoke than the current state law’s coarse-particle (PM10) trigger.
“Scientific studies show conclusively that fine particles damage people’s health more than we realized in the past,” said Dennis McLerran, agency executive director. “A revised burn-ban law will better protect people’s health during periods of stagnant air.”
Burn bans make a difference. Our data shows that fine-particle pollution drops after we issue burn bans. In other words, people are not lighting indoor fires after hearing about rising pollution levels from our Clean Air Network or the media. To join the Clean Air Network, visit www.pscleanair.org and select “Sign up for e-mail news.”
Air quality agencies call a temporary burn ban when (1) pollution levels have reached a trigger point defined by state law and (2) air quality meteorologists predict that the stagnant air will persist.
The law defines two burn ban “stages.” A Stage I Burn Ban prohibits the use of uncertified wood stoves and uncertified fireplaces, unless they are a home’s only source of heat. A Stage II Burn Ban prohibits all use of woodstoves and fireplaces, except for sole heat sources. Those air-quality burn bans also temporarily ban all outdoor burning in rural areas where it is otherwise still allowed.
In the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency’s jurisdiction, a burn ban
can cover any or all of our four counties, depending on weather and air
pollution conditions.
New state-funded effort protects children’s health
The Washington State Clean School Bus Program funded by the state Legislature in spring 2003 has begun protecting children’s health in the Puget Sound region.
Diesel-powered school buses are being retrofitted with emission-control devices to reduce toxic diesel exhaust. Also, many school districts will begin using cleaner fuels such as ultra-low-sulfur diesel, which isn’t required until 2006.
Program starts up quickly
As this newsletter goes to press, contractors are completing retrofits of 12 Bremerton and 10 Bainbridge Island buses with emission-control devices. By February, 28 Bellevue buses and 52 Seattle buses will be retrofitted. Those are in addition to more than 100 bus retrofits in the Everett, North Kitsap and Chief Leschi school districts completed earlier with federal and other funds.
Scheduled next for retrofits are 32 Issaquah, 75 Auburn and 14 Tacoma school buses. About 600 school buses will be emitting less pollution by fall 2004 in King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties.
The 2003 legislation provided about $5 million for the statewide program’s first fiscal year. Lawmakers committed to continuing this level of funding for five years so that more than half of the state’s 9,000 school buses can become low-polluting and air-friendly by 2008.
Program cleans up polluting buses
“School buses have proven to be the safest way to transport our children to and from school. However, scientists have discovered that diesel soot from school bus tailpipes threatens the health of our kids,” said Dennis McLerran, agency executive director.
“Washington’s school bus fleet is one of the oldest and dirtiest in the nation. That’s why we asked state lawmakers to fund this program,” he added. The Washington State Clean School Bus Program is the largest statewide, state-funded, voluntary program of its kind in the country.
A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requirement mandating the sale of new low-polluting school buses takes effect in 2007. However, because diesel engines have long lives and school districts keep buses for an average of 12 to 15 years, that requirement won’t help the current generation of bus-riding kids. The new Clean School Bus Program means better health protection for children beginning this year.
Retrofits, cleaner fuel reduce pollution
Retrofit devices combined with clean fuels will reduce toxic pollution from diesel school buses by 50 to 90 percent, depending on the type of retrofit device and fuel used. Clean fuel options include ultra-low-sulfur diesel, biodiesel, and a mix of ultra-low-sulfur diesel and biodiesel.
Diesel Solutions data and intense collaboration lead to quick start-up
Data from pilot Diesel Solutions projects with three school districts and intense collaboration among local and state agencies has resulted in quick implementation of the Clean School Bus Program. In November, the state Department of General Administration issued a blanket contract with Cummins Northwest for oxidation catalysts.
Any air quality agency in the state can use the new contract. The Clean Air Agency has forwarded more than 200 oxidation catalyst orders to Cummins Northwest for eight school district fleets.
Separate from that blanket contract, we already have contractual agreements with four school districts. We are processing applications from about 30 more districts.
The statewide program is building on “lessons learned” from the Clean Air Agency’s innovative Diesel Solutions program. Since 2001, that award-winning, voluntary initiative has provided advice and grants so our partners could retrofit transit buses, trucks and school buses and switch to ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel.
Stakeholders begin work on climate change goal
On January 21, a diverse group of business and community people on the new Climate Protection Advisory Committee will begin the process of developing a regional goal and strategies related to global climate change. Next fall, the committee will publish a report with recommendations to the agency’s Board of Directors.
The committee will have 25 members with a balance of interests from business, utilities, government and environmental/public interest arenas.
Areas represented by the stakeholders include transportation, energy supply (companies such as Puget Sound Energy and BP), energy demand (companies such as Boeing), the forest industry (Weyerhaeuser) and others. Also represented will be energy-efficiency specialists, environmental groups, trade associations, automobile manufacturers and dealers, public interest organizations and local governments.
The committee will have four technical working groups — energy supply, energy demand, transportation and forestry/agriculture/solid waste — analyzing costs and benefits before the main group recommends strategies. Technical experts from academia, non-profit organizations and businesses will assist those groups.
Related resources
More information about the Clean Air Agency’s climate change program.
An eyewitness report: Region cuts fine-particle pollution by 75%
Senior Air Quality Scientist Naydene Maykut retired Nov. 30. She has witnessed dramatic improvements in air quality since she began contributing in 1966 to the agency’s programs for cleaner air. One pollutant that especially concerns her as a scientist and mother of two children is fine particles. Read on to learn how we’ve gone from Tupperware monitoring equipment to state-of-the-art research and from open burning of garbage to clearer views of the mountains.
It seems unbelievable now, but nearly four decades ago grocery-store garbage was incinerated and car bodies were burned in the open. Annual levels of fine-particle pollutants were four times the current health standard. It was hard to see the mountains.
That was the air quality situation when Naydene Maykut accepted her first job in 1966 as a meteorologist and chemist with the air pollution control group at the Seattle-King County Public Health Department. One of her tasks was to measure the particles collected in five-gallon Tupperware containers, officially called dust fall jars. “We collected whatever fell in the containers for a week. Then I would wash the jars, put the solution into a centrifuge and weigh the results.”
A year later, Maykut’s position became part of the Puget Sound Air Pollution Control Agency when it was established by state law.
In 1967, the agency began using more sophisticated equipment called nephelometers, which measure the amount of light scattered by particles. The chart of nephelometer data graphically demonstrates the stunning progress in reducing fine-particle pollution.
In the “bad old days,” many grocery stores and apartment houses regularly burned garbage in single-chamber incinerators. Open burning of car bodies to recover the scrap metal was a common practice in Seattle’s Duwamish Industrial Area. Smoke from wood-fired boilers, foundries, steel mills, pulp mills and aluminum plants blackened the sky and obscured the mountains.
Then, agency engineers and inspectors began developing and enforcing regulations that shut down the incinerators and developed compliance schedules for heavy industry. Annual fine-particle concentrations dropped by 50 percent from 1967 to 1972.
The next biggest contributor to fine-particle pollution turned out to be wood smoke.
“I first started to see wood smoke as a major problem after I went to work as a meteorologist and air quality scientist in 1968 for R. W. Beck, a major engineering and consulting firm.”
“I realized I could have the biggest impact on this issue by working for an air quality agency. So when I interviewed in 1986 for an Air Toxics Coordinator position with the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (called the Puget Sound Air Pollution Control Agency back then), I told my potential employer that I wanted to work on a tough issue — on wood smoke.”
Maykut got her wish.
She helped start a program in winter 1986 to encourage voluntary curtailment of wood fires when air pollution was high.
“We also needed scientific evidence on the distribution and concentration of wood smoke and how wood smoke affects children, so we could prove to the public that this was a serious issue. To get that evidence, we worked with university researchers on key wood-smoke measurement and health studies.”
Another big project was helping to lobby for a state burn-ban law.
“The effort was successful. The legislature passed a law in 1988 that set up burn ban guidelines, opacity rules, wood-stove certification requirements and lists of materials that could not be burned.”
Burn bans and public education on wood-smoke issues had a positive effect. As the chart shows, annual fine-particle pollution dropped by half again between the 1980s and now — for a total reduction of at least 75 percent since 1967.
A concerted team effort is responsible for this success, according to Maykut. In recent presentations to agency staff, she emphatically said that “everyone at the agency made this happen. Everybody had a part in this success — inspectors, engineers, meteorologists, public education specialists, communicators, analysts, everyone. It was a huge team effort, we responded to issues when we needed to, and we should all be proud of the results.”
Nephelometer Annual Averages from 1967 to 2002
Thoughts from a concerned scientist
Here are selections from an interview with Senior Air Quality Scientist Naydene Maykut, who retired Nov. 30 after 37 years in the air quality field.
Why wood smoke is so unhealthy: “When microscopic particles are inhaled, the particles are carried way down into the lungs. They affect the lungs’ tissue. They get into the blood stream. We don’t know exactly how those tiny particles make people sick, but we know they do.”
“Big spikes in fine-particle concentrations cause increases in asthma aggravation, hospital admissions for respiratory and heart problems, and emergency visits to hospitals for asthma attacks. Real people really die in these circumstances. Those big spikes happen when we get wintertime inversions that clamp a lid on the airshed.”
How her non-work interests affect her work focus: “I love to hike, ski and camp in the mountains. And I love to look at the Olympics and Cascades when I am in the city. Soot from wood smoke, diesel engines and cars makes it hard for all of us to see the magnificent natural beauty that surrounds us. So we’re protecting our scenic views as well as people’s health when we reduce fine-particle pollution.”
Why wood smoke is a tough issue: “After the energy crisis in the 1970s, people thought it was more environmentally responsible to burn wood instead of oil. Also, fires seem cozy and homey. It’s just that when the weather gets stagnant, smoke gets trapped near the ground and harms people’s health.”
What still worries her: “Health
studies now show that fine-particle pollution has a greater
impact on public health than we realized years ago. When
I look at the data for some winter days in some neighborhoods,
I get nervous about the concentrations. Wood-smoke pollution
during weather inversions still gets high enough to make
people sick. Burn bans can cut the spike in wood smoke
levels, which saves people’s lives.”
At a Tacoma company, switching solvents saves money, time
Switching from a hazardous air-polluting solvent to a citrus-based solvent had a net positive effect for Tacoma Rubber Stamp. While it had to invest in new equipment and spend more on solvent, the small 75-employee company also has saved money, reduced paperwork and protected the environment and workers’ health.
Tacoma Rubber Stamp makes flexographic printing plates for manufacturers of corrugated boxes, labels and plastic bags. It was using enough perchloroethylene in the production process to put the company into a costly air-pollution permit category — Air Operating Permits — intended for larger businesses. That category creates significant monitoring, recordkeeping, reporting and annual fee requirements for the source.
“We had to deal with a lot of paperwork and consulting fees. It was time-consuming dealing with government inspectors and engineers. An Air Operating Permit would have cost us $18,000 a year or more. Plus, it was expensive to dispose of the hazardous material left after the perc washed the plates,” said Al Gallier, manager.
“We kept looking for a substitute, and finally found a safer solvent,” added Tim Lovely, company president. “We knew we had to get out of using perc because it was a very hazardous pollutant.”
The citrus-based solvent costs more than perc, but it protects the environment and reduces disposal costs. In addition, installation of new, more sophisticated equipment improved the company’s competitiveness because, among other things, it can make larger printing plates.
Seattle Public Library purchases “Hal” — the first natural-gas bookmobile in the nation
The first bookmobile in the nation to be powered entirely by compressed natural gas has been purchased by the Seattle Public Library. Named after the patron who bequeathed major funding, “Hal” also was funded in part by the Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition and the U.S. Department of Energy.
“Hal” takes 2,000 books, videos, CDs and books-on-tape to retirement centers and day care centers located throughout Seattle.
“The bookmobile’s generator runs continuously — and cleanly — during its stops, so this is a terrific way to educate people about the benefits of low-polluting alternatives to gasoline and diesel fuel,” said Linda Graham, director of the Clean Cities Coalition.
The project was a team effort. Marilyn Ring-Nelson, now retired, came up with project idea when she was head of Mobile Services. Toni Price, now head of Mobile Services, Children’s Librarian Vivian Fetty, Library procurement officer Larry Williamson and City of Seattle Fleet Administrator David Kerrigan helped carry out the innovative project.
Meet our Advisory Council
David Nemens: “A better way”
This is the second in a series of articles featuring members of our agency’s Advisory Council. David Nemens chairs the council.
"When I was a kid living in the Bronx, I used to look at high-rise public housing and knew even then that this wasn’t working. I’d walk down to the Harlem River and watch older boys dive off a bridge, next to a raw sewage outfall. I’d also watch destitute old men living in tarpaper shacks by the outfall trying to catch crabs to eat. I didn’t know what the answers were, but I knew this was wrong.”
These early observations of housing and environmental failures had a profound influence on shaping Nemens’ career and life. He went on to receive Masters degrees from the University of Michigan in urban planning and landscape architecture.
Nowadays, he is considered an expert in the field of land use and environmental planning. He is frequently asked to work on controversial and challenging projects.
Nemens’ planning expertise plus his experience in working with councils, boards and commissions has made him a valuable leader of the Clean Air Agency Advisory Council.
“I particularly enjoy the major function of our Advisory Council — serving as a sounding board for new initiatives, policies and rules. Rather than being just a reviewer of proposed changes, we have the opportunity to work with agency staff to influence proposals prior to the formal adoption process.”
As a land use and environmental planning consultant, Nemens assists small cities and counties with comprehensive, long-range planning. He also does “current planning” for municipal and private clients — updating codes, reviewing development proposals and managing environmental aspects of development projects.
Nemens works for Huckell/Weinman Associates, Inc., a consulting firm in Kirkland specializing in land use, environmental planning and economic analysis. Prior to this, he managed his own consulting business for 10 years but grew weary because “I had to wear all the hats and come in on the weekends to do the bookkeeping.” He has also taught landscape architecture at the University of Washington.
“I like my work,” concludes Nemens. “I like knowing that I’ve been able to improve the livability of urban spaces and positively impact our greater environment. And I like knowing I’ve helped build a better way.”
Study links fine-particle pollution to heart disease
Long-term exposure to fine-particle pollution poses a much greater risk of death from heart disease than death from lung ailments, according to new study published Dec. 16 in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association.
Researchers correlated fine-particle data with data from a survey of 500,000 adults who enrolled in an American Cancer Society survey in 1982. Even after taking into account other risk factors, such as smoking, diet, weight and occupation, the scientists found that fine-particle pollution increased the chances of dying from heart disease. As levels of pollution increased, the risk of death from heart disease went up.
In the Puget Sound region, most fine particles come from indoor and outdoor fires and diesel vehicles.
Clean Air Corner: Tips for Businesses
Eight biodiesel stations now open to public
An air-friendly biodiesel facility serving the public is expected to open in Olympia by late December 2003. That brings the total number of stations serving the public in this region to eight. The other clean-fuel stations are located in Bellingham, Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Bainbridge Island, Vashon Island and Port Townsend.
In addition, Elliott Bay, Shilshole Bay and West Bay marinas have offered biodiesel at their fuel docks since early 2003.
Biodiesel is produced from renewable resources such as such as soybeans, mustard seeds and waste vegetable oils. It acts like petroleum diesel, but produces significantly less air pollution and is biodegradable. Biodiesel can be used in its pure form or blended with petroleum diesel fuel.
For more information, contact the Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition.
About the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency
The mission of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency is to ensure that people in King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties have clean, healthy air to breathe. Our job is to provide air quality management services on behalf of cities and counties for their citizens. We do this by adopting and enforcing air quality regulations, sponsoring voluntary initiatives to improve air quality, and educating people and businesses about clean-air choices. To learn more about our work, visit us at www.pscleanair.org.