Discourse for all interested in all things air-quality related
By our very nature, we humans are a mobile lot. We move. It’s what we do. But, the act of moving itself should not be confused with doing things and going places; a whole different – and other – ball game. In the span of just a few short months, Americans witnessed miles of travel … Read more
There is just no way to know what way the air-quality pendulum will swing for California’s San Joaquin Valley (or simply, “the Valley”) post-COVID-19, well, not at this juncture, anyway. But, by looking at air-quality trends of the past this could provide a clue. So, two points of reference: 2005, prior to the onset of … Read more
The below Apr. 28, 2020 press release is from Earthjustice. Today the California Air Resources Board (CARB) released an updated draft of the nation’s first electric truck standard. The rule asks manufacturers to build zero-emission vehicles that would help strengthen public health in vulnerable communities, and is key to tackling California’s longstanding air quality crisis. … Read more
It’s been amazing! Around-the-world reports have been pouring in about how clean air in many parts of the world has become. Countrywide lockdowns and stay-at-home/shelter-in-place orders instituted during the COVID-19 outbreak have led to tremendous reductions in not just driving, but public transit use, shipping (on navigable waters) and flying. All of them combined having … Read more
Today [Apr. 16, 2020], the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized their plan to gut the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), which regulates toxic emissions from coal- and oil-fired power plants. Since MATS was put in place in 2011, it drastically reduced mercury and other air pollutants, which are linked to breathing illnesses, heart disease, … Read more
The below is from an American Heart Association Apr. 15, 2020 news release. Exposure to heavy smoke during recent California wildfires raised the risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests up to 70%, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the open access journal of the American Heart Association. Cardiac … Read more
Wood-burning restrictions in California’s eight-county San Joaquin Valley as of Mar. 1, 2020 were lifted. Though the burning of wood in residential fireplaces, fire-pits, woodstoves, etc. post-Feb. 29, 2020 is allowed, it is however, as the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (Air District) has stated, discouraged. And, for good reason, obviously: Fine-particulate-matter pollution … Read more
It is no surprise that news of the Trump administration’s action to loosen the U.S.’s clean car standards would spark criticism, outcry, response. As the Environmental Protection Network noted, “‘The Trump administration’s rollback of President Obama’s historic Clean Car Standards is an environmental and economic disaster,’ said EPN member Jeff Alson, who served as a … Read more
The Trump administration finalized a major rollback of fuel-efficiency standards for automobiles today. The revised standards will maintain dangerous levels of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and cost consumers more at the gas pump without making the nation’s roads safer. The administration’s final Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles rule, or so-called “SAFE” rule, is a … Read more
Air quality the world over right this very moment is in a world of hurt what with the corona virus outbreak and COVID-19’s continual spread and path of destruction the disease has wrought. Reported have been 8,000 COVID-19-caused deaths with people contracting the disease numbering in the hundreds of thousands. This is a pandemic that … Read more