Winter ozone problem returns to western Wyoming gas fields

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Respro® UK Ltd

Itchy eyes and scratchy throats blamed on high levels of wintertime ozone have returned to western Wyoming’s gas patch for the first time in six years, and so too has finger-pointing over who’s responsible for fouling the air.

The ozone results from atmospheric chemical reactions that occur in just the right mix of cold temperatures, sunlight, snow on the ground and air pollution.

The Upper Green River Basin is home to two of the largest onshore U.S. gas fields, the Jonah Field and Pinedale Anticline operated by Jonah Energy, QEP Resources and Ultra Petroleum. The companies have cut emissions of volatile organic compounds by almost 7,000 tons and nitrogen oxides by almost 2,000 tons since 2008, according to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.

Those reductions in ozone-forming pollutants, coupled with a decline in drilling since last time ozone was a problem, leads John Robitaille with the Petroleum Association of Wyoming to suggest that other pollution sources, such as wood stoves, are to blame.

“We don’t currently know how many people were out warming up their vehicles for long periods of time in the mornings. There are multiple things going on out there that I think need to be looked at,” Robitaille said Monday.

The focus needs to remain on the gas industry, said Pinedale resident Elaine Crumpley with the group Citizens United for Responsible Energy Development.

“Industry has made some changes and that’s well and good. It isn’t, obviously, enough,” Crumpley said. “They have to come up with some solutions here.”

This winter, average ozone levels in the Upper Green River Basin exceeded the federal health-risk standard of 70 parts per billion for the first time since 2011. Eight-hour averages topped the standard on seven days — Jan. 18 and 19; Feb. 14, 15 and 17; and March 3 and 4 — though this year’s peak of 85 ppb was well below the 2011 high of 123 ppb.

Ozone above 100 ppb is more consistent with a big city with air pollution problems than a rural area known for migrating big game and a world-famous trout stream. Other gas-drilling hotspots in the West including Utah’s Uintah Basin have wintertime ozone problems.

This winter’s resurgence in Wyoming happened despite largely voluntary industry efforts in cooperation with state regulators, who declare “ozone action days” when forecasts call for ozone-forming conditions. Companies respond with steps including cutting back on nonessential truck traffic.

“We’ve been able to reduce the emissions that lead to ozone. And that’s a good step forward but we’re not done, we realize that. We’re still going to focus on this and try to curb those precursor emissions,” Wyoming DEQ spokesman Keith Guille said.

Snow cover helps ozone to form by reflecting sunlight back into the atmosphere. A record 15 inches or more of snow covered the basin through much of January and February.

Locals say they go cross-country skiing only to feel congested and wheezy, problems they can’t definitively connect to the ozone or a virus. But a cough that afflicted Pinedale resident Dave Hohl during the ozone six years ago was back again this winter, he said.

“I can’t be really sure that it was ozone,” said Hohl. “It seems like a little more than a coincidence.”

Source: Winter ozone problem returns to western Wyoming gas fields – San Francisco Chronicle

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Four select committees launch joint inquiry into UK air pollution crisis 

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Respro® UK Ltd

MPs say unprecedented investigation will study harm caused by toxic air and scrutinise government efforts to tackle it

MPs from four influential committees are coming together to launch a joint inquiry into the scale and impact of the UK’s air pollution crisis.

In an unusual development, the environmental audit committee, environment, food and rural affairs committee, health committee and transport committee will hold four sessions to consider mounting scientific evidence on the health and environmental effects of toxic air.

Dr Sarah Wollaston, the health committee chair, said poor air quality was “affecting the health of millions of people across the UK”.

“Our joint inquiry will include an examination of the scale of the harm caused and the action necessary to tackle it,” she added.

Last month, the Guardian revealed the risk to children’s health posed by air pollution, identifying 802 educational institutions in London where pupils as young as three are exposed to illegal levels of air pollution.

The government says toxic air causes up to 50,000 early deaths – 9,000 of them in the capital – and costs the country £27.5bn each year.

The government’s own statistics show 38 out of 43 UK “air quality zones” breach legal limits for air pollution and last year the high court ruled ministers must cut the illegal levels of NO2 in dozens of towns and cities because their current policies to improve air quality were so poor they were unlawful.

The government has to announce its new plans before 24 April and the inquiry will examine whether these proposals go far enough to cut pollution “not only to meet legal limits but also to deliver maximum health and environmental benefits”.

Mary Creagh, chair of the environmental audit committee, said: “The UK courts have twice found that the government has failed to deal with our air pollution problem properly. Now ministers will face unprecedented scrutiny in parliament to ensure they finally step up to the mark to ensure adults, and children in particular, do not have their health damaged by filthy air.”

Much of the most dangerous pollution comes from diesel vehicles and there is growing pressure on the government to introduce a diesel scrappage scheme to encourage people to swap polluting diesel vehicles for cleaner alternatives.

Louise Ellman, chair of the transport committee, said the UK economy depends on an “efficient and flexible transport system” but added: “Emissions from vehicles are a significant problem and the standards that governments have relied on have not delivered the expected reductions. We will be asking what more can be done to increase the use of cleaner vehicles as well as to encourage the use of sustainable modes of transport.”

Neil Parish, chair of the environment, food and rural affairs committee, said the joint inquiry was unprecedented.

“The solutions to cleaning up our air are not the responsibility of just one minister. That’s why we have taken the unprecedented task of convening four select committees so we can scrutinise the government’s efforts from every angle and look for holistic solutions that are good for health, transport and the environment.”

Source: Four select committees launch joint inquiry into UK air pollution crisis | Environment | The Guardian

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Parkinson’s Risk Boosted by Even Short-Term Air Pollution, Korean Study Says

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Respro® UK Ltd

Even brief exposure to air pollution can increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease and other neurological diseases, concludes a Korean study.

The study, “Short-term air pollution exposure aggravates Parkinson’s disease in a population-based cohort,” appeared in the journal Scientific Reports.

Various environmental factors contribute to the pathology of Parkinson’s, but air pollution is apparently crucial in triggering inflammation and oxidative stress — two damaging mechanisms associated with neuronal loss in this disease affecting the central nervous system (CNS).

“Recent experimental studies have shown that air pollutants cause neuro-inflammation, CNS oxidative stress, dopamine neuron damage, blood-brain barrier damage and cerebrovascular impairment, which indicate potential biological pathways for neurological diseases,” researchers wrote.

In fact, scientists have linked the rising incidence of Parkinson’s to annual increases in airborne metal concentrations, very long-term exposure (more than 20 years) to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and yearly increases in small-size air pollutants such as PM10 and PM2.5 among non-smoking women.

Whether short-term air pollution exposure, for days or weeks, can also aggravate Parkinson’s remained elusive.

To find out, researchers used medical records of the National Health Insurance Service–National Sample Cohort to investigate the association of short-term exposure to air pollution components such as PM2.5, NO2, sulfur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3) and carbon monoxide (CO) with the incidence of Parkinson’s aggravation in South Korea’s capital city, Seoul, between 2002 and 2013.

Aggravation cases were those in which patients had emergency hospital admissions due to Parkinson’s. Researchers also compared pollutants concentrations on case and control days.

The results showed a significant association between an eight-day exposure to increases in air pollution in PM2.5, NO2 and CO and Parkinson’s aggravation. This association was stronger in women and older patients (aged 65–74), and during cold season, although not significantly.

In South Korea, the number of Parkinson’s patients is rising rapidly with 24,300 new cases between 2010 and 2014. In 2014 alone, the disease cost Koreans some $222 million.

“Overall, the findings of this study, involving a representative population-based cohort, suggest that short-term exposure to air pollution may increase the risk of [Parkinson’s disease] aggravation,” researchers concluded. “Our results can serve as the basis for further studies on the short-term association between air pollution and neurological diseases, and for policy-making to mitigate air pollution and reduce neurodegenerative health effects in our aging society.”

Source: Parkinson’s Risk Boosted by Even Short-Term Air Pollution, Korean Study Says

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Cars Are Killing Us 

Posted on March 20, 2017 by Respro® UK Ltd

About 3,000 Australians die prematurely each year from outdoor air pollution, and our cars are a major component of that pollution, particularly in traffic congested areas.

Suburbs in Sydney and Melbourne and to a lesser extent other capital cities frequently do not meet air quality standards, and show a deterioration in air quality in recent years.

This pollution is likely to get worse as population increases and along with it congestion on our roads.

Graeme McLeay is an anaesthetist and member of Doctors for the Environment Australia.

Cars emit a toxic mix of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, ground level ozone, and particulate matter, some of it visible as smog or haze.

None of it is good for you. There is growing evidence that such pollution harms our health from the womb to the grave.

Respected medical journals are linking air pollution to underweight newborns, asthma and poor lung development in children, heart disease, stroke, and asthma and lung cancer in later life and even Alzheimer’s disease in elderly people living close to traffic corridors.

The California Children’s Health study followed children over a 10- year period. Children living or going to school close to traffic pollution experienced more respiratory disease such as asthma and bronchitis, and on days when high concentrations of ozone were present, absences from school. In adulthood, previously highly exposed children were found to have reduced lung function.

Children are especially susceptible to asthma and wheeze because of their relatively small airways and they breathe more air per body weight than adults.

Diesel vehicles are popular – I bought one some years ago – and they are the fastest growing fuel type in Australia. I would suspect that many consumers are unaware as I was when I bought my car that diesel is a major contributor of air pollution.

Diesel contains more particulates and nitrox compounds than those from petrol. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has declared diesel emissions carcinogenic.

Despite the evidence of harm, tougher vehicle emission standards which apply in other developed countries are still waiting to be introduced into Australia. Testing overseas has shown that even when cars have particulate filters to meet these higher standards, under real world stop-start driving conditions, diesel emissions remain a problem.

Paris, Madrid, Mexico City, and Athens are planning to ban diesel cars from entering the city, and there is a push to do the same in parts of the United Kingdom.

But diesel is not the only culprit fouling the air we breathe. The level of sulfur in petrol in Australia is making our fuel some of the dirtiest in the world, the current 50-150 parts per million is much higher than comparable economies, and it needs to be lowered to 10ppm.

Sulfur dioxide is a respiratory irritant and contributes particularly to child breathing difficulties.

Australia needs to clean up its act.

A Ministerial Forum on Vehicle Emissions was established in October 2015 to coordinate a whole-of-government approach to addressing emissions from motor vehicles but the word health does not appear in their terms of reference and the Health Minister is not part of the forum.

Yet the World Health Organisation has identified outdoor air pollution as a major environmental health hazard.

The Forum on emissions has been considering vehicle emissions in three ways: improved vehicle efficiency standards which not only give better kilometres per litre but reduce greenhouse gases per litre; more stringent vehicle emission standards which reduce tailpipe emissions of harmful pollutants; and, in the latest round, fuel standards, which enable both of those objectives.

There is a win-win opportunity here to save lives through better air quality, reduce greenhouse emissions and, at the same time, gain productivity in improved mileage and reduced costs to transport.

Much more can be done by both government and individuals to give us air fit to breathe.

In a recent submission to the Ministerial Forum, medical group Doctors for the Environment Australia made a number of recommendations: higher vehicle emissions standards on all new cars in line with the best standards applying overseas; cleaner fuel standards for all fuel types; tax incentives to favour petrol cars over diesel; and tax incentives favouring hybrid and electric cars.

Better public transport, more walking paths and bike lanes, car sharing, urban planning and public warnings about air quality can all help to reduce the health burden. Idling of vehicles while stationary is banned in some overseas jurisdictions and turning off the engine while waiting is something simple everyone can do.

I for one will, among other things, ensure that my next car will be electric or hybrid!

Source: Cars Are Killing Us | Gizmodo Australia

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Scientists at Bremen University tracking air pollution in our cities

Posted on March 17, 2017 by Respro® UK Ltd

“You have probably used an app on your mobile phone to get the weather forecast. Now, thanks to a satellite network and ground-based stations, it is possible to get through an app on your phone information about pollution in your cities.

‘The university of Bremen, in Germany, is collecting different kinds of data, in order to obtain a general picture of the pollution in the atmosphere,” reported euronews correspondent Claudio Rosmino from Germany.

Earth’s atmosphere is a complicated system, influenced by a large number of factors. Observation satellites orbiting around our planet constantly monitor the state of the air we breath and how natural and man-made pollution are affecting the quality of the atmosphere.

Researchers at the university of Bremen have pioneered the measurement of atmospheric pollution.

“Measurements from space are essential because they provide us with the global picture from the local to the global scale. They to tell us what the meteorology and atmospheric chemistry are doing to our emissions.

‘The wind system is moving the air around. At certain times of the year Europe is venting to the pristine regions of the Arctic. Similarly, in Europe, we receive in summer, often, pollution coming from America. We have to understand the sources, the so-called surface fluxes, the emissions and we also have to understand the atmospheric chemistry and physics which enables the pollution to be sent around the globe,” explained John Philip Burrows, Professor of Physics of Atmosphere and Oceans, University of Bremen.

To detect every piece of the chemical puzzle composing our atmosphere, scientists work with data collected by spectrometers, aerosol analysis and satellite measurements as with the ones coming from the Earth observation Copernicus programme.

In the Bremen observatory, above the university roof, the sunlight is decomposed into its basic radiation and analysed to find traces of pollutants.

“You can say that every molecule has its finger print in the spectrum. There are million of lines, so there is an enormous amount of information in it and these lines in this case now can be attributed to CO2. So, it’s the CO2 in the atmosphere, which is absorbing solar sunlight,” explained Justus Notholt,
Professor of Remote Sensing at the University of Bremen.

The university uses a truck as a mobile measurement station. It helps detect the footprints of smog and industrial emissions which affect the air quality.

Methane and CO2 are the greenhouse gases driving global climate change and they are strongly linked to human activity, but to have the wider picture, it is crucial to distinguish between man-made and natural pollution.

“The truck provides a unique set of different instruments. On one hand we have instruments which are just sucking in the air around us, which means that we are able to analyse the air for pollutants. On the other hand we have remote sensing instruments using more of less the same type of analysis as the space born instruments, to having a broad idea of pollutants around us,” Folkard Wittrock, Research Group leader at the University of Bremen pointed out.

In the coming months the Bremen researchers are launching a further initiative to investigate the impact of major population centres on air quality at a local and regional level by dedicated airborne campaigns.

This ‘Carbon Dioxide and Methane Mission’ will provide new data in order to support the validation of satellite measurements.

“We have two intensive air born measurement campaigns where we get a kind of snapshot of the chemistry of these outflows and in the analysis we combine this with satellite data to understand how the chemical evolution of the outflows from mega-cities,” explained Maria Dolores Andrés Hernandéz,
Research Group leader, University of Bremen.

Once the ‘air pollution detectives’ have gathered all the evidence, they must process this huge amount of data. That final step requires complex algorithms and IT infrastructures to get a coherence between measurements from the observation satellite network and the different sensors on Earth. This is the base to build a tool to forecast pollution.

“The satellite gives us these beautiful maps, but you can only use them really if you have a validation measurement to compare to and this needs to be a very good measurement and it needs to be taken from the ground.

‘Once you have launched the satellite, it is out of your hands and you cannot bring it to the lab and double check and test it. It’s there and you need to trust the data, and the only way to get this confidence in the data is by comparison to other measurements,” said Andreas Richter, Senior Scientist at the University of Bremen.

The increase of greenhouse gases have changed the Earth’s energy balance and accelerated the climate change process.

The impact on global warming has revealed the vulnerability of the planet’s ecosystem.

That makes scientific studies fundamental for our ability to cope with high impact weather events and establishing suitable policies.

“Mankind has a large influence on the climate and the problem is everything that we are doing now has very long time scales, we have to make now decisions so that we can see results in 50 years or maybe even later,” explained Justus Notholt,
Professor of Remote Sensing, University of Bremen.

“We need better information and better quality information, in order to be able to provide the right mechanisms and the best possible models for prediction of human impact and natural phenomena.

‘As we have seen in Europe the improvement of the air quality, and this is certainly the result of policy. It shows that people can do it, governments can do it, but we’ve got a long way to go,” said John Philip Burrows,Professor of Physics of Atmosphere and Oceans, University of Bremen.

When it is launched into orbit later this year, ESA’s satellite Sentinel-5 Precursor will provide high-level measurements on the Earth’s atmosphere, surpassing the performances of current in-orbit instruments.

It will boost the quality of data gathering and enabling researchers to optimise their models.

Source: Scientists at Bremen University tracking air pollution in our cities | Euronews

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‘Airpocalypse’ smog events in China linked to melting ice cap, research reveals 

Posted on March 16, 2017 by Respro® UK Ltd

Stagnant weather caused by fast-melting Arctic ice helped create conditions for China’s recent extreme air pollution events, scientists say

Climate change played a major role in the extreme air pollution events suffered recently by China and is likely to make such “airpocalypses” more common, new research has revealed.

The fast-melting ice in the Arctic and an increase in snowfalls in Siberia, both the result of global warming, are changing winter weather patterns over east China, scientists found. Periods of stagnant air are becoming more common, trapping pollution and leading to the build up of extreme levels of toxic air.

The work is the latest to show that changes in the rapidly warming Arctic are already leading to severe impacts for hundreds of millions of people across North America, Europe and Asia. The US has also seen a rise in episodes of stagnant air, which may be leading to higher air pollution there.

“The very rapid change in polar warming is really having a large impact on China,” said Prof Yuhang Wang, at Georgia Tech in the US, who led the new research. “Emissions in China have been decreasing over the last four years, but the severe winter haze is not getting better.”

“Mostly that’s because of a very rapid change in the high polar regions where sea ice is decreasing and snowfall is increasing,” he said. “This perturbation keeps cold air from getting into the eastern parts of China, where it would flush out the air pollution.”

The new research is convincing, according to Prof Jennifer Francis, at Rutgers University in the US, who said people should be concerned at the growing evidence that the thawing Arctic is having major consequences further south. “Not all the impacts of a melting Arctic are bad – such as taking the edge off of winter cold snaps – but most of the effects will have a negative impact on the billions of people living in temperate regions,” she said.

Air pollution causes 1.4 million early deaths every year in China and the “airpocalypse” in 2013, when levels soared to 10 times national limits, grabbed global attention. The US embassy had been tweeting data on the “crazy bad” air, which led the Chinese government to open up its reporting and then to crack down on pollution later in 2013.

However, despite cuts in emissions helping clear the air in summer, the winter haze remained a serious problem, leading Wang’s team to investigate. Their research, published in the journal Science Advances, found that periods of stagnant air over east China correlated closely with years of very low Arctic ice and high snowfall in Siberia.

They then used climate models to show that these changes in the Arctic could cause domes of high pressure in the region, under which low winds meant air pollution builds up instead of being blown away.

The 2013 “airpocalypse” followed the record low Arctic ice in late 2012 and record high snow in northern Siberia. Arctic ice plunged to its second lowest extent in late 2016 and China was again hit with an extreme air pollution event this winter. “2013 was off the chart” in terms of poor ventilation conditions over east China, said Wang. “And the winter of 2016-17 was nearly as bad.”

The researchers concluded that “extreme haze events in winter will likely occur at a higher frequency in China” as climate change continues to heat up the Arctic. Wang said this should drive an increased urgency in cutting both air pollution and the carbon emissions that cause global warming.

“When you look at haze reduction, it is not just about reducing emissions of air pollutants, it is also about reducing emissions of greenhouses gases from China and all the other countries in the world, so we can possibly slow down the rapidly changing Arctic climate,” Wang said.

The emissions of greenhouse gases from human activity is responsible for at least half, and possibly up to two-thirds, of the fall in summer sea ice in the Arctic since the late 1970s, according to recent research.

Source: ‘Airpocalypse’ smog events in China linked to melting ice cap, research reveals | Environment | The Guardian

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Mumbai be warned! Air pollution in the city is worse than even Delhi

Posted on March 16, 2017 by Respro® UK Ltd

Mumbaikars there’s some bad news for you. Mumbai has recorded higher air pollution levels than Delhi over the last two weeks.

A study conducted by System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) has found that Mumbai has worse air pollution levels than Delhi having recorded higher toxic air quality during the months of February and March.

The presence of micro pollutants in Mumbai’s air was above allowable limits, which can easily penetrate into the lungs and cause air borne diseases and chronic ailments. SAFAR studied Air Quality Index of Pune, Delhi and Mumbai and found out it was the Maharashtra capital which had the worse air quality as compared to the other cities.

SAFAR revealed that the worst affected suburbs were Bhandup, Malad, Chembur and Mazgaon. The study concluded by stating that with the end of winter, Delhi and Pune had satisfactory air quality of 40% and 47% respectively, but Mumbai’s recorded air quality was as low as 13%.

Source: Mumbai be warned! Air pollution in the city is worse than even Delhi – News

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Air pollution in Hanoi reaches hazardous levels 

Posted on March 16, 2017 by Respro® UK Ltd

Air pollution in the capital city, which has been bad since last Tuesday, is so severe now that health experts have warned people to stay indoors.

The Air Quality Index at various air monitoring stations across Ha Noi showed dangerously high levels on Monday night.

For instance, it was at 214 at Nhon Street in Bac Tu Liem District, which is very high. Earlier, last Thursday, the index had touched 294 here, while it was at 263 on Pham Van Dong Street.

An index of above 300 will have adverse effect on people, according to the US Environment Protection Agency.

Ha Noi People’s Committee Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung admitted that the city’s air quality was at “red alert level”.

At a recent meeting with concerned agencies, Chung had said that the high level of air pollution was the result of the large number of cars and motorcycles in the city that have crossed their expiry dates.

“Ha Noi has nearly six million motorcycles, of which 2.5 million crossed their expiry date and should be banned on roads. These vehicles are seriously polluting the environment,” he told Zing online newspaper.

Chung also blamed the worsening of the air quality on road constructions and industries.

Drastic measures would be adopted to curb the problem and improve air quality, he said. The city would ask project investors to spend on waste treatment systems and use eco-friendly technologies.

In the future, Ha Noi will add 80 observation posts for recording air pollution.

Source: Air pollution in Hanoi reaches hazardous levels – News VietNamNet

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