Officials address long-term health risks of air pollution in Fairbanks
Published Wednesday, July 23, 2008
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Stumble It!FAIRBANKS — Air-quality and health officials said Tuesday that chronic air pollution presents long-term health risks for people in Fairbanks.
They also said they’re still nailing down exactly where the pollution — a mix of soot, dust and other particles — comes from.
Health specialists on the panel, which addressed the Fairbanks North Star Borough’s advisory Air Pollution Control Commission, said the pollution is linked to issues ranging from decreased lung function to heart problems.
Glenn Miller and Jim Conner, who respectively direct and study particulate pollution at the borough’s air quality division, have said they expect the issue will soon land Fairbanks on the Environmental Protection Agency’s short list of problem communities.
That will leave Fairbanks to get pollution — at its worst here in the winter — under control, something Conner indicated could mean changing many people’s home-heating habits and systems.
“We do know that our emissions go up when it gets cold, and we do know that we burn a lot of fuel,” Conner said.
The pollution is called “particulate” pollution, or PM2.5, and consists of bits of airborne dust.
When it becomes lodged deep in the lungs, it can cause chronic bronchitis, decreased lung function and, for people with lung or heart disease, shorter lives.
Fairbanks was marked a chronic polluter after federal pollution standards tightened three years ago.
Lori Verbrugge, a state toxicologist, said the smallest bits of particulate pollution can even enter the bloodstream.
She said a 2004 study of 10- to 18-year-olds in California indicate kids in polluted cities are more likely to develop decreased lung function. Other studies connect high pollution levels with higher mortality rates, she said.
“It’s quite clear that this elevated particulate matter does cause death” in susceptible residents including the elderly, she said.
Fairbanks tops acceptable levels for air pollution roughly 20 days each year, with emissions regularly spiking in the winter and subsiding in the summer, excluding heavy wildfire seasons, according to data from the borough.
Conner said particulate pollution in Fairbanks is a combination of many compounds including ammonium, sulfur, organic carbon, nitrate and soot.
He said early studies show the levels of organic carbon and sulfur rise notably during days when Fairbanks violates air pollution standards.
The borough and state are teaming to study the wintertime air pollution, with the federal government covering most of the tab.
Conner said the results will help specialists map a plan to lower pollution, a plan that could focus on converting diesel engines to “trap” pollution, help residents swap older wood stoves for ones certified by the EPA as clean-burning, or provide incentives for public transportation.
Conner said outdoor wood boilers could also be major polluters. He cited a study in New York state that indicated outdoor wood boilers can emit four times as much particulate pollution than conventional wood stoves and 10 times more than EPA-certified wood-burners.
Owen Hanley, a Fairbanks lung doctor, confirmed that some elements of particulate pollution can be linked to long-term health problems.
“Certainly, they can stay around (in the lungs) for decades, causing chronic irritation,” Hanley said.
Community Discussion
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It would be great to see the statistics on how many lung cancer deaths in Fairbanks would be prevented if we had:
1. Cheap hydroelectric power for home heating from the Susitna dam.
2. Clean burning natural gas from the Alaska gas line.
Imagine Fairbanks in the wintertime with really clean air. Wouldn't that be great?
No wonder all these years when I ran in this neighborhood
in the winter my lungs were going out!
I'm so happy that the Borough got that grant to study this. Where does the dust come from, gee couldn't be from the Tanana silt upon which we sit could it? Wildfires, nah that can't be the source of it. Wood stoves, certainly, lets first start a permitting program for all using those damn things. Then, once we know who has them we can have "non-burning" days and ultimately outlaw them all.
Wow a study that indicated elderly people actually die.
I wonder if they have any evidence that 20 day a year exposures to higher than acceptable pollution results in an unacceptable level of deaths and is it possible to have evidence directly linking short term exposure to pollution that results in early mortality or are they just relying on the Junk Science study conducted in CA that found an association to reduced lung function in areas having heavy pollution on a daily basis?
Oh and the idea about converting diesels to trap particulates. That technology is already here and in production.
http://ohe.cat.com/cda/layout?m=115239&a...
http://ohe.cat.com/cda/files/374437/7/DP...
Problem is that it's very expensive and can result in increased fuel consumption as well.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0...
We could tax firewood, till nobody could afford it.
Democrats, I'm just kidding...
This will dovetail well with shutting down IM program due soon. No net loss of Borough power, people, or budget. Will the Borough now have the power to inspect the interior of our homes?
WELL, guess the choice is between FREEZING to Death this winter, OR dying from lung cancer??? Wonder how much "pollution" was caused by the wild fire smoke that drifted this direction a couple of weeks ago?
SamBam: Yep. Natural gas, hydro, geothermal and a few more might clean up the problem of air quality...but if your waiting for government and BIG OIL to make a move that direction...you might want to do like I'm doing. Almost got the neighbor's tree moved into my wood pile...and collecting all the paper work concerning the gas line for fire starter, too. Hope the ink don't suffocate everybody?
Last winter we saw the Gobi desert sands blow into Fairbanks. What other pollution is blowing in from a country that is know for some of the worst air pollution in the world. Can the study not only identify, but locate where the pollution comes from?
Do not forget the real reason Whitaker is testing is so he can build his syn gas (coal) plant that are know to be major air polluters.
By the way, make sure when you place sensors this time you do it outside of the downtown area, like at Fox, Murphy Dome, Harding Lake, etc. All the people of the borough have a right to know where the air is polluted. Just like they did with the IM, they will make sure the results meet the findings they need to have their goals achieved.
I would like them to measure PM levels indoors in the target areas. I don't believe that PM2.5 can permeate within buildings very well. When it is -40 there is no need to worry about outdoor levels because no one is outdoors for more than a few minutes per day. How about a rebate program for indoor air cleaners instead of a multi-million dollar year round program for a problem that will disappear once we have natural gas in the interior.
They also need to redefine the measurement method. If this is going to be a borough wide problem they need to put one monitor at 40 mile Chena Hot Springs Rd. put one monitor on top of Ester Dome and put the third one 20 miles up the Salcha River. It seems to me that this is only a city problem and it is being forced upon the entire borough.
Lastly, the current policies of the borough and DNR are causing a huge spike in firewood prices. No new areas are being opened for woodcutting despite the increase in demand. Soon firewood will be the same cost of heating oil if this does not change. If you want to cut your own firewood on our state or borough lands it is a 50-100 mile round trip which is not very economical with todays fuel prices.
Fairbanksgas, if they have their way they will eliminate wood burning.
Another reason why wood pellets should be considered. They burn clean. Hopefully a wood pellet plant will be developed in the interior, it may be the life saver for lowering heating cost. Some one is advertising a cord of split birch for $350. Add pellets to your list of heating sources.
Akniceguy,has a new boiler.
So will I if I can find the money. But mine will be in my garage burning either green or dry firewood, plus it can burn coal. Either get the pipeline here or we will be burning whatever we can find!
perhaps this winter they'll get a chance to study the effects that freezing to death has on lung capacity. hey, with the money we're making off of oil now the state can just go tell washington d.c. and the epa to go jump off the bridge to nowhere with their highway moneys.
Why does the Borough still employee these air polution guys. Carbon Monoxide levels have been good for years do to cleaner cars. The I/M program is just a money grab with no useful increase in clean air. The Borough air polution group is searching for a way to justify their jobs so now it is PARTICULATES. Next thing you know they will be coming buy your house to tax you on your CARBON FOOTPRINT. Get rid of them.
The HOT air EPA study.....Brothers and sisters it's about taking YOUR wood stove this winter.
Yep, they want our woodstoves. Probably wood boilers too - after all these people I have talked to paid $8000 + for a machine that sends a lot of resources into the great outdoors. What are you people thinking?
My husband just built a wood boiler for indoor use - this way we get the best of both worlds.
I, personally, want my kids to grow up with healthy lungs. I grew up with a smoker and inhaled second hand smoke my entire childhood and have decreased lung capacity and exercise-induced asthma thanks to him. Whether you rednecks like it or not, it is a good idea to look for cleaner fuels that have a lower impact on air quality and public health. Thats why we shouldn't even be talking about coal. Also, if people only went outside for a few minutes at -40, we wouldn't have the ice fog we have. People drive and idle their cars for hours - and they suck up all that exhaust into their car's interior and then their own lungs. Unless you work somewhere that has a fancy air filtration system, a lot of it gets sucked into the air you breath all day at work.
I came from california (as the name implies) and Coming up here, compared to the HORRIBLE air in Riverside California, has been great.
My allergies stopped (until just recently) and I found exercising outdoors much more fulfilling.
But all of a sudden, I'm getting the same problems I had in California. I hope they figure out exactly where it's coming from and how to fix it.
I plan on living up here for a long time, & if I have to buy filtration systems and all sorts of other 'fancy things' I'd prefer to live in a bubble. It'd be cheaper.
Quick
We better hire some more borough employees to study whether this grant will expire leaving more questions unanswered that will require more employees to answer
If Fairbanks has been labeled by the EPA as a chronic polluter, why did Mayor Whitaker announce he will be seeking a coal to syn gas plant in Fairbanks. This makes no sense what so ever.
calitransplant, you should have checked the level of mold that causes allergies in the Fairbanks area before you moved. Fairbanks has been on the list of unsafe air for years, it is nothing new. The problem is all of this is based on four air sensors in the middle of downtown. I agree test the air in the borough, not just downtown Fairbanks. By the way how much money did Uncle Ted give the borough to study this and how many new positions will be created.
I'd like to know how much of fairbanks has natural gas heating? I live on kennicott and been waiting for several years now for nat gas access.
I'm also interested in a remark about asthma and allergies. Normally I haven't had much problems since I quit smoking years ago, but this summer has been crazy.
They can have my wood stove when they pry it out of my cold dead hands!
"Conner said the results will help specialists map a plan to lower pollution, a plan that could focus on converting diesel engines to “trap” pollution, help residents swap older wood stoves for ones certified by the EPA as clean-burning, or provide incentives for public transportation."
How will this plan effect GVEA? Don't they run on diesel? Are their diesel engines EPA approved or do we have to foot the bill to convert them? A "conversion surcharge"???
Just wondering out loud. :^/
I wonder what the air was like 100 years ago, when the only form of pollution was from wood stoves and maybe steam engines??? Try telling our Great Grandparents they couldnt burn wood. They would all have died and we wouldnt be here!
If anybody is seriously interested in wood-pellets I can help chip-in and get one shipped here using my export license..
http://www.woodpelletline.com/
....split wood, not atoms
This discussed syngas {coal} plant of the Mayor's makes no sense, one of the dirtest industrial operations known to man to be placed in our borough that has all these clean air problems already. What is he thinking? This air pollution study should be the last "nail in the coffin" for syngas in Fairbanks. We should hear of it no more. But it is doubtfull based upon past history.
we sell wood pellets at the store i work in. we can't even keep enough in stock for demand now!
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