Air Pollution Monitors Could Come to L.A. Freeways

By LA Weekly Tue., Jan. 17 2012 at 2:42 PM

Black Lung Lofts

By Taylor Freitas

For Southern Californians living near freeways, in what we at LA Weekly call "Black Lung Lofts," breathing in dirty air has been a concern for years, and it's one that's been neglected by Los Angeles and federal officials.

The highly publicized Children's Health Study, released by USC in 2004, confirmed that kids living within two blocks of any freeway in Southern California contract asthma at higher levels, and some suffer lifelong lung damage.

Still, 1.2 million L.A.-area residents live within 1,000 feet of freeways, inhaling vehicle emissions and tiny particulates made up in part from tire rubber. Ignoring the studies, the L.A. City Council and the Community Redevelopment Agency keep building children's housing along freeways.

But earlier this month, three environmental organizations filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Finally! Here's the scoop:

The three groups are trying to force the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the organization that oversees air quality in the high-traffic areas of L.A., to install air monitors to track how much pollution is actually produced along the region's busy freeways.

The lawsuit was filed by the National Resources Defense Council, Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles, and Communities for a Better Environment in early January.

From the press release:

Pollution produced by the region's millions of diesel and gasoline powered vehicles cause a heavy health burden for everyone living in Southern California, but evidence shows that it harms families and individuals living within approximately 300 yard of LA's heavily-trafficked roadways even more.

The lawsuit cites the health risks associated with living near polluted roadways -- like women having children with low birth weights or adults developing asthma or cancer -- as evidence of the danger these families face every day. Our March 2010 cover story, "Black Lung Lofts," identifies the health threats posed by living next to freeways:

In 2004, USC's landmark Children's Health Study made waves nationally, confirming that thousands of Southern California children living in near high-traffic roadways were contracting higher levels of crippling asthma and children living in smoggy areas were suffering impaired lung development.
The study proved long-held beliefs that fine particles such as those caused by tire rubber and brake metal -- so tiny that scientists say the dust seeps through the smallest cracks and holes and thus is not blocked by air filtration systems or triple-paned windows -- were burrowing into people's lungs.

When the revelations broke in The New England Journal of Medicine, L.A. was in the grips of a badly overheated housing bubble. City Hall politicians and planning officials were embracing trendy housing projects alongside freeways, especially downtown, where urbanists touting a "sustainable" lifestyle, free of suburban commuting, were moving into places like the Medici and Orsini luxury complexes -- a stone's throw from the Harbor and Hollywood freeways, respectively.

The lawsuit also argues that the EPA is in violation of the Clean Air Act, passed in 1970, which is intended to protect citizens from breathing in polluted air. Part of the law's purpose is...

...to protect and enhance the quality of the Nation's air resources so as to promote the public health and welfare and the productive capacity of its population.

So if we know this air pollution is a problem, how is adding air monitors going to change anything? Well, not only could current policies be reviewed, but future building in L.A. could be affected too, the L.A. Daily News reports:

Air monitors could show that air quality near freeways is even worse than estimated, environmental advocates say. And that data could affect government decisions about where apartment complexes and schools get built -- or whether roadways can be expanded.

The outcome of this case could (hopefully) initiate big changes for L.A., which has the worst ozone pollution of any city in the United States.

Last year, the same three organizations, along with the Desert Citizens Against Pollution and other groups, sued the EPA over smog in the area, saying the federal agency did not meet a deadline set in the '90s to clean up the region's air.

Tags:

asthma, black lung lofts, epa, lung damage, national childrens health study, nrdc, usc

We Recommend

norahedward

This is a really good read for me, Must admit that you are one of the best bloggers I ever saw.Thanks for posting this informative article. electrician mississauga

Lee-750FFF

CARB's Mary Nicholas just told Congress that CARB has eliminated OVER 99% of harnmful vehicle emissions in this state. So is she wrong too? The air is cleaner than its been in 50 years - yet it will never be good enough.Confirming common sense instincts - what scince is beind any of this - of course political science. Lets see activists, self-serving, fear-mongering, job security for those in the Public Health community an th ill fated UC schools system. The EPA/CARB/NRDC allege that most air pollution rules’ reductions in ambient airborne fine particulate matter will save tens of thousands of lives annually and, as EPA values lives at about $8 million each, the agency further claims that the rules will provide hundreds of hundreds of billions of dollars in “health benefits.” But many new studies show that EPA’s scientific claims and, by extension, its benefits claims about fine particulate matter ought to be very much open to questioning and analysis. Against these phantom benefits are the very real costs of the rules, amounting to tens of billions of dollars in vehicle compliance costs, lost jobs and higher energy prices. Directly challenging the EPA/CARB and their activists schills on their fine particulate matter claims has been difficult as the agencies has secured the key data in the hands of private university academics from ALA and ACS who are out of congressional and Freedom of Information Act reach. The EPA is currently stonewalling an effort by Rep. Andy Harris, Maryland Republican, of the House Science Committee, to obtain the data. The only good news in all this so far is that the U.S. Court system is finally saying enough to this deception. Meanwhile, new data from studies ought to embolden the 112th Congress’ unprecedented efforts to rein in the out-of-control regulatory agenies and their junk science. The only people hurt from this story are the 500,000 CA homeowners home values who live (to very old ages according to the CDC) 1,000 feet from freeways.

TOMGILLILANatGMAIL

Mary Nichols is a politically appointed attorney who is not qualified to deal in matters that affect public health.

She also a megalomaniac who keeps Los Angeles air pollution levels high so she can force us to buy her expensive new car that she will take credit for if it is ever invented.

She is also a fraud. Ten out of eight of the most unhealthy cities to live in because of air pollution are in California.

In Los Angeles she REFUSES to deal with the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of charcoal barbeques, fireplaces, and hamburger style restaurants that are in use EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR. Technology already exists to render these smoke sources almost harmless.

In LA this is important because thousands and thousands of people cook outdoors with charcoal and wood as their PRIMARY method of cooking. With millions of people living in a densely crowded city with high background air pollution from vehicles already, the ill effects of smoke inhalation are multiplied. Smoke inhalation from a charcoal barbeque helped kill one of my friends and she knows about it and she couldn't care less.

Smoke from a charcoal barbeque causes lung disease and more. Living downwind from one of these smoke sources is like living in hell.

ALL OF THE FOLLOWING CHEMICALS ARE IN CHARCOAL AND WOOD SMOKE:

CARBON MONOXIDE, METHANE, VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS, FORMALDEHYDE, ACROLEIN, PROPIONALDEHYDE, BUTRYALDEHYDE, ACETALDEHYDE, FURFURAL, SUBSTITUTED FURANS, BENZENE, ALKYL BENZENES, TOLUENE,ACETIC ACID, FORMIC ACID, NITROGEN OXIDES,SULFER DIOXIDE, METHYL CHLORIDE, NAPTHALENE, SUBSTITUTED NAPTHALENES, OXYGENATED MONOAROMATICS, GUAIACOL, PHENOL, SYRINGOL, CATECHOL, PARTICULATE ORGANIC CARBON,OXYGENATED PAH, FLORENE, PHENANTHRENE, ANTHRACENE, METHYL ANTHRACENES, FLUORANTHENE, PYRENE, BENZO(A)ANTHRACENE, CHRYSENE, BENZOFLUORANTHENES, BENZO(E)PYRENE, BENZO(A)PYRENE, PERYLENE, IDENO(1,2,3-cd)PYRENE, BENZ(ghi)PERYLENE, CORONENE.

WE BREATHE THESE AS TOXIC VAPORS WHEN YOU COOK WITH CHARCOAL AND WOOD OR USE YOUR FIREPLACE

AT LEAST TEN OF THESE CHEMICALS CAUSE CANCER

THESE CHEMICALS ALSO CAUSE ALLERGIC ASTHMA AND ADVERSE RESPIRATORY OUTCOMES IN EVERYONE DOWNWINDESPECIALLY IN CHILDREN AND THE ELDERLY

HELL WILL FREEZE BEFORE MARY NICHOLS REMOVES TOXIC SMOKE VAPORS FROM OUR BREATHING AIR----------THE MOST TOXIC FORM OF AIR POLLUTION WE ARE NOW EXPOSED TO AS CITIZENS HERE IN LOS ANGELES

Mr Lee if you agree with Mary Nichols that 99% of harmful vehicle emissions have been eliminated, then you should suck on your auto exhaust pipe every chance you get.

Cate

GREAT IDEA!!!!! and LET'S BUILD an ABOVE GROUND RAIL

from SANTA BARBARA to HOLLYWOOD...built straight down the center of the 101from SHERMAN OAKS to LAX....built straight down the center of the 405

increase jobs, lower pollution, create a more friendly and social city...

DanielTHarper

Search on the web "Penny Medical" if you have a condition such as high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, cancer, depression or have had an injury, like a broken leg and need health Insurance NOW.