171-mile Valley high-speed-rail link receives Calif. HSR Authority Board environmental okay

The below Sept. 10, 2020 news release is from the California High-Speed Rail Authority. Today [Sept. 10, 2020], the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s (Authority) Board of Directors unanimously approved the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) for the approximately 50-mile project alignment section referred to as the “Central Valley Wye” part of the … Read more

High-efficiency air-filtration system for cars, businesses, homes

With wildfires raging in many parts of the western U.S. and with smoke from the Creek Fire in the Sierra National Forest flowing down into California’s central San Joaquin Valley darkening skies, turning sun-ups and sunsets red and impacting health including mine, I can’t help but be reminded of just how important clean air is … Read more

Improved air quality could be another plus of a railroad safety system known as PTC

By the end of the year, about 70,000 route-miles of railroad track in the United States are mandated to be outfitted with a fully functioning Positive Train Control or PTC system. Both in 2015 and 2018, expressed PTC mandates for those two years were not met. Will it be the same regarding the 2020 deadline? … Read more

‘Keep it local’ and help spare the air

Stop for a moment just to think about all that goes on every day in your area, your county, your state. “Impossible,” you say? What’s at the heart of all activity, is people. Activities (plural in this case), meanwhile, run the gamut: everything from folks working, shopping and traveling to attending classes, making medical appointments … Read more

When it comes to dodging air pollution roadway users can’t win for losing

Where avoiding polluted air goes, roadway users just can’t seem to catch a break. I mean, while out on the road we’re exposed to air toxics left, right, up, down, front, back, you name it – all ways but loose it seems. Tailpipe pollution or what is more commonly referred to as exhaust. Bits and … Read more

Motor vehicles one source of roadway air pollution – pavement asphalt is another, research reveals

The below Sept. 2, 2020 news release is from Yale University. Asphalt is a near-ubiquitous substance — it’s found in roads, on roofs and in driveways — but its chemical emissions rarely figure into urban air quality management plans. A new study finds that asphalt is a significant source of air pollutants in urban areas, … Read more

Air pollution, digestive tract disorders and the connection between them – revisited

Strong evidence suggests there is a link between air pollution and compromised gut health. This topic was first explored on the Air Quality Matters blog on Feb. 26, 2014 in the post: “Air pollution, digestive tract disorders and the connection between them.” Since that time, some important developments have surfaced in the academic, medical and … Read more

The climate change exchange: ‘Back-up’ plan

Whether we are talking about atmospheric normalization or global warming’s and/or climate change’s causation, “balance” is the word. That’s right, balance. So in a kind of holistic air-healing sense or maybe more precisely, a holistic air-remedying context, what does being balanced mean exactly? From physics, we know that if an object exerts a force opposite … Read more

California ports poised to get cleaner, greener with new state rule

The below Aug. 27, 2020 press release is from the California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board. The California Air Resources Board today approved a new regulation designed to further reduce pollution from ocean-going vessels while docked at California’s busiest ports. The rule builds on progress achieved by the groundbreaking At-Berth Regulation adopted in 2007. … Read more