Having a Bad Air Day - Pollution Researchers on a Mission
Posted on: Thursday, 28 July 2005, 18:00 CDT
* Environment Northeast is taking measurements around Providence as part of a New England campaign to reduce diesel pollutants.
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PROVIDENCE - Environmentalists staked out on a Route 195 overpass yesterday say their instruments can confirm what your nose suggests, that diesel engines pollute the air with fine particles.
"Already we can see that when a diesel truck goes by, the numbers go way up," said Madeleine Weil, a policy analyst for Environment Northeast, a nonprofit environmental research and advocacy organization.
With help from local environmentalists, Environment Northeast is undertaking two days of air-pollution measurements around greater Providence, as part of a New England campaign to reduce diesel pollutants.
Their work continues today with testing on Allens Avenue, at Rhode Island Hospital, at the Central Landfill in Johnston, the Cranston ice rink, and the pedestrian overpass above Route 195 connecting India Point and the Wickenden Street area.
Environment Northeast is coordinating the project with technical support from the Clean Air Task Force.
At the 195 overpass yesterday, workers monitored two meters that measure microscopic airborne particles.
Environment Northeast will need about two weeks to analyze the results and create a report on "ultra fine particulate matter" emitted by diesel engines, Weil said.
Part of the mission of the measurements is to raise awareness of the health risks -- heart and lung disease -- associated with the fine particles, and to let the public and elected officials know that there are solutions available, she said.
"It is a solvable environmental problem," she said.
New federal standards to cut diesel pollution will require filters to drastically cut emissions on new diesel engines beginning in 2007, according to a report from Environment Northeast. Those new standards will not affect existing diesel engines, many of which could still be running 30 years from now, Weil said.
Retrofitting filters and cleaner fuels can cut 50 to 90 percent of pollution from existing diesel engines, according to Environment Northeast. Those filters can cost $3,000 to $7,000 each, said Bruce Hill, a senior scientist for Clean Air Task Force.
State and local governments can help reduce pollutants from diesel engines by updating their diesel fleets, and by requiring that contractors who bid on state jobs to have trucks retrofitted with filters to reduce emissions, according to Environment Northeast.
* In Business: Report calls Brayton Point power plant the biggest generator of carbon dioxide in the Northeast. Page E1
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* Researcher James Gooch counts the number of trucks passing below the Route 195 pedestrian bridge that connects Wickenden Street with India Point Park as he measures the air quality yesterday.
JOURNAL PHOTO / RUBEN W. PEREZ
Source: Providence Journal
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