Air Pollution

Things related to air pollution from large industrial sources of pollution.

A Nasty Summer Mix Ahead by Bob Henson

Heat, Ozone, and Dust: A Nasty Summer Mix Ahead by Bob Henson

"This weekโ€™s heat wave will be accompanied by light winds, which will allow air pollution levels to build, bringing the worst ozone air pollution thus far this year to much of the Midwest and Northeast United States. Ground-level ozone, which is created from chemical reactions between volatile organic carbon (VOC) compounds and nitrogen oxides, is created more readily at warmer temperatures. Extreme heat helps these chemical reactions occur faster, and we can expect to see many areas with ozone pollution topping out in the โ€œUnhealthyโ€ range during the heat wave. At this level of pollution, people who are sensitive to air pollution can see increased risk of stroke, heart attack and breathing problems, and even healthy people may experience discomfort."

"An air pollution episode as widespread and severe as the one this week is a threat to cause hundreds of premature deaths. According to a 2018 study done by the Health Effects Institute (a U.S. non-profit corporation funded by the EPA and the auto industry), ozone pollution in the U.S. caused approximately 12,000 premature deaths per year between 2010 and 2016. Air pollution deaths are calculated using epidemiological studies, which correlate death rates with air pollution levels. Air pollution has been proven to increase the incidence of death due to stroke, heart attack and lung disease. Since these causes of death are also due to other factorsโ€”such as lifestyle and family historyโ€”we typically refer to air pollution deaths as premature deaths. A premature air pollution-related death typically occurs about twelve years earlier than it otherwise might have, according to Caiazzo et al., 2013."

The Historically Hazy Story of Donora’s Deadly Smog

The Historically Hazy Story of Donora’s Deadly Smog

"THE RESIDENTS OF DONORA, PENNSYLVANIA, knew their riverside factories were dirty long before 1948. They could tell which sector of the American Steel and Wire complex was producing the bulk of the dayโ€™s pollution from the airโ€™s tintโ€”the open hearth produced reddish-brown exhaust, the blast furnaceโ€™s was black, and the zinc works, possibly the worst of them, emitted a noxious yellow smoke, a result of the sulfur dioxide with which it was laced."

Heโ€™s making pollution worse | Grist

Weโ€™re ignoring the biggest Pruitt scandal: Heโ€™s making pollution worse | Grist

We get all worked up about murder but not cardiac arrest and cancer caused primarily by a handful of the dirtiest of dirtiest power plants.

They estimate that 25 people die per year from cancer and cardiac arrest in Albany County alone from the emissions caused by energy generating facilities, mostly coal fired power plants lacking pollution control. If there was somebody out there shooting 25 random suburbanites on the street, there would be a swat team and hundreds of police officers investigating. But power plants pollution? Not newsworthy, even though hospitals are filled with victims harmed by electricity generation.