Kari Palmer, MPCA Naomi Shinoda, MDH

Transcription

1 Environmental Public Health Tracking Seminar Series Minnesota Air Quality: Challenges and Implications for Public Health Kari Palmer, MPCA Naomi Shinoda, MDH January 26, 2011

2 Summary Air pollutants of concern Pollutants with National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) Air toxics What is MPCA doing? Air quality reporting MPCA reports Air Quality Index Health tracking MPCA and MDH Collaborations

3 AIR POLLUTANTS OF CONCERN

4 National standard revisions EPA must periodically review each standard National standards must protect human health with an adequate margin of safety Costs cannot be considered in setting the level Between 2008 and 2012, EPA will review ALL Reviews often result in lower standards and shorter averaging times

5 Timeline for new standards

6 Fine particles-pm2.5

7 PM 2.5 pyramid of health effects

8 Where does PM 2.5 come from?

9 Minnesota daily PM 2.5 trends

10 Minnesota annual PM 2.5 trends

11 New PM 2.5 standard Will be proposed and finalized in 2011 EPA will likely wait for this new standard to designate us as nonattainment Implications

12 Ozone

13 Twin Cities ozone trends Proposed ozone standard range

14 Air toxics Pollutants of concern identified Monitoring MNRiskS modeling Priority pollutants Diesel particulate Formaldehyde Acrolein PAHs Dioxins & furans

15 WHAT IS MPCA DOING?

16 Implement federal rules Transport Rule Caps emissions of NO x and SO 2 from power plants Cleaner diesel vehicles and fuels Stricter fuel efficiency standards New area source rules

17 Cleaner transportation Clean diesel Partner with Clean Air Minnesota Retrofit over 1,800 school buses Grants to reduce heavy duty diesel emissions Electric vehicles Minnesota Electric Vehicle Coalition 30 public charging stations by solar powered stations Goal to power public stations with renewable electricity

18 Focus on reduction of pollutants New internal MPCA group focused on: Preparing State Implementation Plans Meet federal standards in Minnesota New MPCA focus on air toxics reductions Focus on reduction of priority air toxics and fine particles Priority on partnerships and voluntary reductions

19 REPORTING

20 MPCA reports Air Quality in Minnesota: 2011 Report to the Legislature Annual Air Monitoring Network Plan Annual Pollution Report Climate change publications See MPCA website

21 Air Quality Index (AQI) 0-50 Good Moderate Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups Unhealthy Very Unhealthy Developed by US EPA to provide the public easily understood real-time air quality information Categories based on federal standards Index values calculated for multiple pollutants Ozone, PM 2.5, CO, SO 2 Highest pollutant drives regional AQI

22 AQI reporting Website: Traditional media: Newspapers, television, radio Phone hot-line: or New media: Twitter, , text message, iphone application

23 Air alerts Issued when AQI exceeds 101 Description of areas affected Current conditions and timeline for improvement Cautionary health statements Pollution reduction strategies

24 Support MDH/CDC Tracking Report on: PM 2.5 Ozone

25 MPCA and MDH Collaborations

26 Environmental Public Health Tracking National EPHT Network MN EPHT Air quality indicators PM 2.5 Ozone

27 Tracking in action 4. Public Health Action 1. Data Collection Tracking = public health surveillance 3. Data Dissemination 2. Data Analysis & Integration

28 State tracking data portal 8 Core Content Areas Air quality Drinking water quality Hospitalizations (asthma, COPD, heart attack) Carbon monoxide poisoning Blood lead Birth defects Reproductive & birth outcomes Cancer

29 Coming soon by May 2011! Data Queries for 8 core content areas GIS mapping for 2 content areas

30 Air pollution and health in MN US EPA STAR grant Exploring air quality and health Develop and evaluate outcome-based environmental health indicators

31 Air pollution and health in MN Purpose: method/indicator development Local area analyses Using local sources of data Track health effects associated with changes in air quality in MSP and Olmsted Fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) Hospitalizations and mortality Respiratory Cardiovascular

32 Particle size distribution

33 What makes us unique in MN? History of federal standards attainment Concurrent local and national PM reduction initiatives Unique health data set: the Rochester Epidemiology Project

34 MN air pollution reduction initiatives Minnesota Emissions Reduction Project (MERP) Diesel retrofits School buses; heavy duty public vehicles Project Green Fleet Other local initiatives Anti-idling ordinances Go Greener Initiative (Met Council) National initiatives Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel Fuel Rule Heavy Duty Diesel Regulations Transport Rule

35 Measuring impacts and accountability Regulatory or Policy Changes Reductions in Population Exposures Reductions in Adverse Health Outcomes PM 2.5 Respiratory outcomes Cardiovascular disease Hospitalizations and Deaths

36 MN air initiatives State Agency Executive Order 2004 late Baseline Period Heavy Duty Diesel Rule 2007 Ultra Low Sulfur Fuel Clean Air Interstate Rule 2008 Early Implementation Project Green Fleet retrofits Implementation MERP: Allen S. King offline: 8/06-4/07; operational: early ; m ore anticipated 2010 MERP: Riverside operational: 2009 MERP: High Bridge offline: 8/07-12/07; operational: May 2008

37 Air pollution and health in MN Study Areas: Minneapolis/St. Paul Metro (7 counties) Olmsted County Timeframe Data analysis Epi methods: Time series Case-crossover Olmsted

38 Population exposure ^_ ANOKA Ambient PM 2.5 ^_ ^_ ^_ ^_ ^_ Continuous monitors Daily 24-hr averages CARVER HENNEPIN ^_ RAMSEY ^_^_ ^_ ^_ ^_ ^_ ^_ ^_ ^_ ^_ ^_^_ ^_ ^_ ^_ ^_ ^_^_ WASHINGTON Avg. of 6 monitor stations for MSP metro SCOTT DAKOTA ^_ Continuous monitors

39 Health outcomes Hospitalizations Asthma Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease Total respiratory disease Cardiovascular disease Mortality All-cause cardiopulmonary Rochester Epi Project Asthma clinic cluster visits Oral steroid prescription data Ambulance data (EMS runs)

40 Air pollution and health in MN Short-term associations Time series analysis Case-crossover analysis

41 Case-crossover analysis S M T W Th F S Referent Event times Lag times

42 What characteristics of particles are harmful? Physical Characteristics Particle size Surface area Number of particles Change as a result of PM reduction activities? Seasonal differences? Chemical Composition Carbon, nitrates, sulfates, metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons Interactions w/ Co-Pollutants Some Combination of Factors?

43 The accountability chain Regulatory action Pollutant Emissions Representative of true exposures and actual doses inhaled? Monitors adequately capture changes in emissions? Ambient air quality Exposure to pollutants Differences in susceptibility Person-to-person differences Pollutant mixes Human health

44 Directions for future explorations Incorporate other pollutants Ozone (?) PM 2.5 species sulfate, nitrate, elemental carbon, organic carbon Spatially assigned air and traffic data Vehicle miles traveled Hierarchical Bayesian modeled data

45 Kari Palmer Naomi Shinoda Acknowledgments MPCA: Catherine Neuschler, Cassie McMahon, Greg Pratt, Lisa Herschberger, Margaret McCourtney MDH: Jean Johnson, Allan Williams, Paula Lindgren, Chuck Stroebel, Wendy Brunner REP: Barbara Yawn, Peter Wollan