Environment: Trees cause pollution — but not on their own

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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Isoprene, a chemical emitted by trees interacts with manmade nitrogen oxides to create particulate pollution. Bob Berwyn photo.

Tree chemicals combine with nitrogen oxides to form potentially dangerous particulates

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — President Ronald Reagan might have been on to something when he infamously claimed that trees cause pollution. While he was widely ridiculed for his statement, scientists later confirmed that a certain chemical emitted by trees also contributes to the production of particulate matter in the atmosphere.

The chemical in question is isoprene, an abundant molecule in the air that protects leaves from oxygen damage and temperature fluctuations. But those chemical processes have not been well understood, so researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill set out to look for answers. (more…)

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California air pollution creeps into remote Sierra monument

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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Air pollution is a growing concern at Devils Postpile National Monument, near Mammoth Lakes, California. Photo courtesy National Park Service.

Wildfires, industrial sources contribute to ozone problems in the Eastern Sierra Nevada

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Devils Postpile National Monument in the eastern Sierra Nevada is about as far as you can get from California’s industrial urban centers, yet air quality at the site has suffered in recent years as pollution blows in from other parts of the state, according to a new U.S. Forest Service-led study.

The monument, near the resort town of Mammoth Lakes, features one of the best examples of columnar basalt formations and is also a gateway to High Sierra wilderness areas bordering on Yosemite National Park.

Ozone precursors (nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds) from wildland fires, as well as ozone from the Bay Area and Central Valley resulted in exceedances of federal air quality standards, as well as state air quality standards during the 2007-2008 study period, at levels that pose a risk to sensitive individuals and indicate a need for long-term ozone monitoring. (more…)

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Health: New study shows strong link between highway noise, emissions and heart disease

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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Study shows exposure to highway pollution increases risk of heart disease.

Evidence mounts that living near highways is bad — very bad — for your health

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — If the noise from nearby highways doesn’t kill you, the road dust just might, according to a new study presented recently at a health conference in Rome.

Previous research in Denmark showed that traffic noise was significantly associated with risk of heart attack — for every 10 decibel increase in noise exposure (either at the time of the attack or over the five years preceding it) there was a 12 percent increased risk.

The new study presented at the EuroPRevent 2013 shows that long-term exposure to fine particle matter (PM) air pollution in part derived from traffic pollution is also associated with atherosclerosis independent of traffic noise. (more…)

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UCLA study links traffic pollution with childhood cancers

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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Exposure to traffic pollution has been linked with exposure to traffic-related air pollution.

Evidence growing that traffic pollution causes a wide range of illnesses

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Not long after European researchers published a study linking auto emissions with chronic childhood asthma, a new report from UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health suggests a potential link between traffic-related air pollution and several childhood cancers.

The results of the study — the first to examine air pollution from traffic and a number of rarer childhood cancers — were presented on April 9 in an abstract at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C. (more…)

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Environment: Air pollution can stunt coral reef growth

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

New study may help inform reef conservation effrot

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Bleached coral in the Caribbean. Photo courtesy NOAA.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Coral reefs are at risk from global warming, but regional aerosol emissions may also be a significant factor in how corals grow, according to a new study by scientists with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

The research linked airborne particles caused by volcanic activity and air pollution to episodes of slow coral-reef growth. The findings came as part of an effort to to better predict the effects of climate change and human disturbance on reefs.

The data came from several coral cores drilled in reefs near the Atlantic entrance of the Panama Canal formed by the coral species Siderastrea siderea between 1880 and 1989, whereas samples from the Turneffe atoll in Belize showed growth fluctuations in the coral species Montastrea faveolata from 1905 to 1998. (more…)

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New clean fuel standards will cut pollution and reduce health impacts, especially for at-risk populations near busy roads

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

EPA to hold hearings on Tier 3 standards

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New York City smog.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — With more and more studies showing that tailpipe pollution from cars and trucks is linked to serious chronic illnesses, conservation groups hailed last week’s EPA announcement on new standards to reduce soot, smog and other dangerous emissions.“The new Tier 3 standards will make our cars cleaner, and that means we’ll have cleaner air to breathe,” said Mark MacLeod, of the Environmental Defense Fund.

“Reducing tailpipe pollution will provide healthier, longer lives for millions of Americans for less than a penny per gallon of gas. That’s why updating the standards has such broad support from U.S. auto makers, state health commissioners, and health advocates,” MacLeod said. (more…)

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Environmental groups challenge EPA’s sulfur-dioxide emission exemptions for Southwest power plants

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Fight over regional haze plans now at the federal appeals court level

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Conservation groups continue to fight for air pollution cleanup in the Southwest.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Clean Air Act loopholes in regional EPA-approved air quality plans are unacceptable, according to a coalition of environmental and community groups who last renewed their challenge to the regs in a Denver-based federal appeals court.

According to the groups, the plans allow coal-fired power plants in Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming to escape federal requirements to reduce their emissions of haze-causing pollutants. Of particular concern are exemptions for sulfur dioxide emissions, responsible for obscuring visibility and for significant human health impacts.

The exemptions are being challenged by HEAL Utah, National Parks Conservation Association, Powder River Basin Resource Council, and Sierra Club, represented by Earthjustice. (more…)

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Ozone pollution could exacerbate global warming, drought impact on forest ecosystems

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Researchers try to pinpoint impacts of ozone on forest ecosystems.

Large-scale study suggests ozone-stressed trees use more water

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — The impacts of ozone of trees and other plants are well documented, but new large-scale studies suggest the heat-trapping gas may intensify the effects of warmer temperatures and reduce streamflow from forests to rivers, streams, and other water bodies.

Such effects could potentially reduce water supplies available to support forest ecosystems and people in the southeastern United States, according to a new study by the U.S. Forest Service and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Using large-scale models, the researchers found that increased concentrations of ozone in coming decades will aggravate drought and change stream flows, especially in dry seasons. (more…)

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Environment: EPA approves Colorado clean air plan

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Regional haze reduction efforts should help reduce pollution along Front Range and in Rocky Mountain National Park

A computer-generated split-screen image a split-image simulates the average 20 percent best (left) and 20 percent worst 20 percent (right) visibility at the Long’s Peak vista based on an average of monitored data for years 2000-2004.

Ozone damage on the leaf of a cutleaf coneflower manifests in the form of black stipules. Photo courtesy RMNP.

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — A new EPA-sanctioned clean air plan could be just what the doctor ordered for Rocky Mountain National Park, where rangers had to hoist ozone warnings 17 times this summer, after an average of about five to seven each of the last few years.

Ozone readings also spiked at numerous other locations, especially along the Front Range, and farther out into the eastern plains, where ozone previously hasn’t been a big problem.

Officials blamed the long, hot summer, which cooked the deadly mix of nitrogen oxides and other compounds into a smoggy soup that stresses respiratory systems, clouds visibility and harms plants even in the high alpine zone of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Clean air advocates say that, despite tough state rules, increasing oil and gas drilling along the Front Range are contributing to the increased frequency of ozone spikes, and say that global warming adds to the challenges of controlling ozone smog.

The regional haze plan approved by the EPA this week is a good step in the right direction, according to Environmental Defense Fund attorney Pam Campos, explaining that the plan includes hard targets for reducing emissions by retiring some old coal-burning power plants, converting some to natural gas and making sure other industrial facilities cut emissions. (more…)

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Climate: Study downgrades warming effect of soot

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Diesel smoke from vehicles is a source of soot.

But black carbon particles still seen as important climate factor

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Soot may not play as big a role in atmospheric warming as previously believed, according to a new study based on field observations in sometimes smoggy Southern California.

Some previous efforts at modeling the warming impacts of soot suggested that the tiny atmospheric black carbon particles could increase heat absorption by as much as a factor of two, but the new research shows black carbon absorption enhancements of just 6 percent, suggesting that climate models may be overestimating warming by black carbon.

“These findings do require us to reduce our projections about the amount of heating soot produces, at least under some experimental conditions,” said Boston College Professor of Chemistry Paul Davidovits, an authority on airborne particles, known as aerosols.

But the findings don’t point to soot as being a harmless climate forcer,” said Davidovits. “Soot remains an important climate heating agent, as well as a health problem that has been well documented.” (more…)

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