Urban Life

New York’s Communities With 50 Largest Hazardous Air Polluters

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Hazardous air pollutants, also known as toxic air pollutants or air toxics, are those 187 air pollutants that are known or suspected to cause cancer or other serious health effects, such as reproductive effects or birth defects, or adverse environmental effects. This interactive map shows the communities that host 50 largest hazardous air polluters based on the 2013 data (most recent available from the DEC). The communities hosting the largest HAP polluters are shown in red, lower on the list are blues. The biggest HAP emitters in the state are Alcoa Massena Operations (West Plant), Eastman Business Park, Reynolds Metals St Lawrence Reduction Plant, Lafarge Building Materials Inc and Morton Salt Inc.

More about Hazardous Air Pollutants: https://www.epa.gov/haps/what-are-hazardous-air-pollutants
Data Source: https://data.ny.gov/Energy-Environment/Title-V-Emissions-Inventory-Beginning-2010/4ry5-tfin/

NPR

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New air pollution satellite could support environmental justice : NPR

David Jones dusts his house in the Curtis Bay neighborhood of Baltimore almost daily. He rarely opens his windows, even when the weather is beautiful, because the outdoor air makes him feel sick.

Immediately across the street is the Curtis Bay coal terminal, where heaps of coal taller than Jones' house are piled up for overseas shipment. Dust from the coal mounds enters people's cars, homes — and lungs.

"You wake up in the morning and your throat hurts," Jones says. In the bathroom sink, he can see black specks in his spit.

Jones is one of millions of people in the United States who live with dangerous air pollution, including gases like nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide, ground-level ozone and tiny particulates that coat every surface. Some particles are so small they worm deep into the lungs and cross into the brain.

No, New York wasn’t the anti-slavery hero you thought it was – City & State New York

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No, New York wasn’t the anti-slavery hero you thought it was – City & State New York

The simplest narrative of American history portrays the North as a humanitarian anti-slavery hero in the fight for freedom and equality for African Americans. But a closer look at history will reveal something much darker.

The same beliefs of Black inferiority were expressed by political and business leaders, and the citizens who put them in charge, in both Northern and Southern states in ways that were both implicit and explicit. New York state is one of the many Northern states that has a history with slavery and anti-Blackness that’s built into the fabric of its institutions – it is just much more hidden compared to the states that made up the Confederacy.

Closing Down Washington Avenue During the Daytime Makes a Lot of Sense

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Last week, the Albany Police 👮closed down Washington Avenue between Dove Street and Eagle Street, ostensibly because of the Poor People’s Campaign protest as the Fort Orange Club, even though the protesters weren’t actually blocking the street.🙈

I liked how the street closure made it easy for pedestrians to cross the street, to get on with the business of the day, visit the bank, businesses and other state offices. 🏢It also seemed to reduce noise and air pollution.🚗🚌🚚 I can understand how the street closure was a pain for motorists and bus riders — it would have been a short walk to Lark or Eagle Street to catch the bus  — but it also made Downtown Albany more livable and enjoyable.🚶

I think the city should consider closing down Washington Avenue between Lark Street and Eagle Street during weekdays,😎 especially in the summer, when people are out and about getting lunch and crossing the road conducting their business.💼

Process and Display Data from Air Quality Sensors • AirSensor

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Process and Display Data from Air Quality Sensors • AirSensor

The AirSensor R package is being developed to help air quality analysts, scientists and interested members of the public more easily work with air quality data from consumer-grade air quality sensors. Initial focus is on PM2.5 measurements from sensors produced by PurpleAir.

The package makes it easier to obtain data, perform analyses and create visualizations. It includes functionality to:

download and easily work with PM2.5 data from PurpleAir visualize raw “engineering-level” data from a PurpleAir sensor visualize data quality using built-in analytics and plots aggregate raw data onto an hourly axis create interactive maps and time series plots convert aggregated PurpleAir data into ws_monitor objects appropriate for use with the PWFSLSmoke package