What’s in our air?
Despite UP’s ‘green’ efforts, a danger lurks in the air from transportation, industry pollution
Rosemary Peters Editor-in-chief peters12@up.edu In the time it takes you to read this sentence, you will have potentially breathed in fumes of 19 different chemicals. The amount you inhale depends on your location, time of day, weather, wind pattern and other factors, but one fact remains: You are breathing in toxic emissions. All 19 of these toxic emissions can cause respiratory problems. Eighteen of these toxic emissions are known or suspected carcinogens. Sixteen are neurotoxins and can lead to neurological issues. According to the EPA’s most recent National Air Toxic Assessment (NATA), an assessment that contains 2005 emission data for 177 pollutants, two main sources of these toxics are mobile sources and industry. These sources affect students, staff and faculty at the University, despite UP’s best efforts to live and promote a green and sustainable lifestyle.
MOBILE SOURCES What is three miles east of I-5, a few hundred feet south of the maritime vessels in the Willamette River and surrounded by several miles of train tracks? If you answered the University of Portland, you’re right. Despite its picturesque setting on the bluff overlooking the Willamette River, UP’s location puts it in a hotbed of air pollution from transportation sources such as maritime vessels and trains. And don’t forget to include the cars, motorcycles, minivans, sport-utility vehicles, trucks and buses taking the pedal to the metal on nearby streets and I-5. In 2005, Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) completed the Portland Air Toxics Study (PATS), an air quality modeling study projecting air
toxic concentrations for Portland up to 2017. “We used economic growth factors that we get from the Metro economist. Consumer products, industrial growth, transportation, shipping – anything that would affect emissions,” Sarah Armitage of the DEQ said. “From there we got estimated emissions for what’s in the air in 2017.” DEQ’s study showed that 15 air pollutants were above the health benchmarks, with eight being more than 10 times higher than health benchmarks: benzene, 1,3 butadiene, diesel particulate matter, formaldehyde, cadmium, 15 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, naphthalene and acrolein. These substances, excluding acrolein, are known or suspected to cause cancer. Three of these pollutants – benzene, 1,3 butadiene and diesel particulate matter – are largely coming from the transportation sector. “If you are within 500 meters on either side (of a freeway) there are a lot higher levels of toxic air pollutions,” Armitage said. “And North Portland does have a freeway running through it.” The EPA estimates that mobile air toxic sources, such as cars or trains, account for nearly half of all cancers attributed to outdoor sources of air toxics. The cancer issue is a significant concern for North Portland residents, as Multnomah County’s air is the seventh most carcinogenic air out of the 3,000 counties surveyed in 2005 for the NATA report. Portland’s air, which contains 14 carcinogens including some from mobile sources, could cause 726 extra cases of cancer for residents of Multnomah County, according to the DEQ. In addition to containing carcinogens, Multnomah County’s air is the worst in the U.S. for contributing to citizens’ respiratory problems, according to the EPA. Respiratory problems from mobile sources are largely due to
Air pollution by 2017
Rosemary Peters | THE BEACON
Using Department of Environmental Quality data, in March The Oregonian mapped the risk of air toxics by census block for the Metro area. The school icon represents the approximate location of the University of Portland. The map shows DEQ’s estimates of average pollution in each census block by 2017 compared to benchmark health goals known as “ambient benchmark concentrations.” Pollution less than 10 times the benchmarks is good; levels more than 100 times above the benchmarks raise concerns. The University is in the range of 100-150.
Courtesy of Mark Friesen of The Oregonian
Times above ambient benchmark concentration:
a person’s exposure to tiny particles called fine particulate matter. According to the EPA, diesel engines (diesel being the dominant fuel used by the commercial transportation sector) are one of the largest manmade sources of this particulate matter. In fact, several types of diesel engines, according to the 2008 National Emissions Inventory, power the majority of commercial maritime vessels like the ones in Willamette River. According to Armitage, diesel particulate matter was taken into account in the PATS study. “We tracked who goes in and out of the port and the type of ship and the estimate of what they’re burning while they’re there, up and down the river,” Armitage said. “There is some influence from shipping. They’re not a huge influence on the air toxics of most concern, but the closer you get, the more impact there would
be.” This increases health concerns for UP as its location along the Willamette River exposes students, faculty and staff to these maritime vessels’ diesel exhaust every day.
INDUSTRIAL SOURCES Cancer and respiratory risks aren’t only coming from air toxics from the transportation sector. The DEQ says higher concentrations of air toxics are found in areas with industrial activity. The closer an individual is to an industry, the more exposure he or she will have to those industries’ pollutants. This potentially makes the proportion of the overall air pollution he or she is experiencing from industry significantly higher than pollution from transportation sector, traditionally the larger part of an individual’s exposure to air pollution.
With industrial business stretching from Swan Island to Kelley Point, there are 15 industries in the 97217 and 97203 area codes that have the potential to contribute to the University’s air pollution problem, depending on daily factors such as weather and wind patterns, EPA documents show. “Each industrial facility has a unique profile on what they emit and when they emit,” Armitage said. “They are unlike other types of emissions.” There are approximately 1,400 Oregon companies that have air permits through the DEQ. These companies, including 24 near the University, are required to report to the EPA estimates of how many toxic chemicals they release as part of its Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program. The latest report (2010) shows that industries near the University See Emissions, page 14
Pollution from industry
Each industry that emits over a pound of any chemical must report it to the EPA. The EPA calculates how these chemicals spread over every square kilometer. The distance each plume travels depends on height of the smokestacks, weight of the chemical, local topography and velocity of the chemicals.
Most of the chemicals fall very close to the plants, but some can travel for miles. The direction of the wind can also have an affect of where the chemicals fall.
Each square mile can experience pollution from several industrial sources. Designed by Rosemary Peters | THE BEACON Information from USA Today’s Smokestack Effect and the EPA