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EDITORIAL: Breathing Bad Stuff: Charlotte Air Has More Toxic Pollutants Than Most Places

Posted on: Tuesday, 28 February 2006, 06:00 CST

By The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Feb. 28--Air pollution. If the image you get from those words is one of factory smokestacks belching dingy clouds, try again. Imagine, instead, all the cars, trucks and SUVs in your city.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data, released last week, shows Charlotte-Mecklenburg ranks in the top 4 percent of U.S. counties for risks of cancer and respiratory illness from a category of air pollution that's different from ozone. In North Carolina only Guilford County ranks higher than Mecklenburg in cancer risks from the pollutants. In Mecklenburg, as in many places, vehicles spew far more of the toxic chemicals than industries do.

The EPA looked at "toxic air pollutants" -- substances that cause, or are suspected of causing, cancer, birth defects or other health problems. One example is benzene, which causes cancer and has been at unhealthful levels in N.C. air for years. Cars are a leading source of benzene in the air. But while the government restricts industrial emissions of benzene and the other toxic pollutants, until now it hasn't set limits for their emissions from cars. The EPA is expected soon to propose new rules, however.

Last week's EPA estimates came from computer projections based on emission figures dating to 1999. Actual N.C. measurements are hard to find, because of a lack of good monitoring of the toxic pollutants. North Carolina has only seven monitors; only one is in Mecklenburg County.

But this much we do know. Federal laws to reduce industrial air pollution and stricter auto standards are helping. But more people are driving farther, offsetting some of those gains. Measured by the six pollutants for which the EPA sets standards (which don't include the toxic air pollutants), Mecklenburg's air quality is improving. But one of the six, ozone, remains over the EPA limit and another, fine particle pollution, hovers near it. Meanwhile, medical research increasingly shows a strong link between bad air and lung diseases, cancer and even heart disease.

It's good that some air pollution problems are getting better. Nevertheless, the conclusion should be clear: Driving less would do more than just save money for the family budget. It could play a role in reducing many kinds of air pollution. And that could make life in Mecklenburg more healthful for many more of its residents.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)

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