Allegheny County Health Department Air Quality in Allegheny County GWC Workshop No. 9 August 27, 2015
Who Are We Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) State & Local Programs Implement Clean Air Act through Rulemaking Set standards for Air Quality Funds States/Locals to implement Rules & Meet Standards Responsible for technology to measure pollution Measure Air Quality Regulate/Permit Pollution Sources Implement Federal Rules Develop Plans to Meet NAAQS Track Emissions Two local air programs in Pennsylvania: Allegheny County and Philadelphia
Criteria Pollutants Fine Particulates Ozone Carbon Monoxide (CO) Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) Lead
The NAAQS National Ambient Air Quality Standard set for Criteria Pollutants. Criteria Pollutant: A group of six widespread and common air pollutants regulated by EPA to protect human health and the environment. The Act requires EPA to review these standards every five years. Two NAAQS Standards Primary and Secondary: NAAQS primary standard is to protect human health NAAQS secondary standard, to protect public welfare and the environment
Current NAAQS
Monitoring Sites www.achd.net/air Current raw (unverified) monitor data feed from all ACHD sites Downloadable Air Quality Index (AQI) report Annual air quality reports and data summaries
PM2.5 Annual Standard Site 2013 Average Annual Std. = 12.0 µg/m³ 2014 Average 2011-2013 3-Year Average 2012-2014 3-Year Average Liberty 12.0 12.7 13.4 13.0 North Braddock 11.2 11.5 11.7 11.4 Avalon 10.2 10.7 11.4 10.6 Lawrenceville 9.8 10.1 10.3 10.0 Harrison 9.6 10.0 10.6 10.0 Clairton 9.4 9.8 9.8 9.5 South Fayette 8.9 9.1 9.6 9.0 North Park 8.7 8.1 8.8 8.5
PM2.5 Annual Standard
PM2.5 24-Hour Standard 24-Hour Std. = 35 µg/m³ Site 2013 24-Hour Max. 2014 24-Hour Max. 2013 24-Hour Exceed. 2014 24-Hour Exceed. 2013 98 th - Percentile Value 2014 98 th - Percentile Value 2011-2013 3-Year Avg. of 98 th - Percentile 2012-2014 3-Year Avg. of 98 th - Percentile Liberty 43.6 63.8 6 4 31.1 32.2 37.2 35.3 North Braddock 29.8 28.3 0 0 26.1 24.4 28.9 25.8 Clairton 18.8 35.3 0 0 17.1 31.2 22.2 22.5 Avalon 32.0 27.0 0 0 23.2 22.6 24.6 22.2 Harrison 28.7 23.6 0 0 24.2 19.9 24.9 21.6 Lawrenceville 27.5 30.4 0 0 20.8 20.7 22.8 20.6 South Fayette 27.4 21.8 0 0 23.5 18.9 24.1 20.2 North Park 16.7 18.0 0 0 16.0 18.0 19.3 16.8
PM2.5 24-Hour Standard
Ozone 8-Hour Std. = 0.075 ppm Site 2013 8-Hour Maximum (ppm) 2014 8-Hour Maximum (ppm) 2014 4 th Highest Value 2013 Exceedance Days 2014 Exceedance Days 2011-2013 8-Hour 3-Yr. Avg. of 4 th Max. (ppm) 2012-2014 8-Hour 3-Yr. Avg. of 4 th Max. (ppm) Harrison 0.085 0.076 0.071 4 2 0.080 0.077 Lawrenceville 0.095 0.071.065 1 0 0.076 0.073 South Fayette 0.089 0.072.065 2 0 0.074 0.070
Ozone
Sulfur Dioxide 1-Hour Std. = 75 ppb Site 2013 1-Hour Maximum 2014 1-Hour Maximum 2011-2013 99 th percentile 2012-2014 99 th percentile 2014 Exceedances Liberty 99 122 117 101 14 North Braddock -- 126 -- -- 5 Avalon 75 63 40 37 0 Lawrenceville 100 58 26 21 0 South Fayette 55 53 22 20 0
Sulfur Dioxide
Pittsburgh Planning
Why Allegheny Co. is Unique Complex Terrain/Meteorology Inversions trap pollutants Difficult to Model Violations typically occur at night Type of Industrial Sources Smaller sources Less dispersion potential Monitoring Network More coverage/data Proximity to Industrial Sources
Inversions
What We re Working On PM2.5 Attainment/Maintenance Plans Ozone Attainment (At state level) SO2 Attainment Air Toxics 3 Areas of Concern: Neville Island, Downtown, and Liberty/Clairton Multiple health studies occurring in each area Source cameras (website in development) Air toxics sampling projects in Avalon/Bellevue, Liberty Clairton (website in development) Downtown diesel study (currently underway data to be published by Pitt, 2016) Marcellus shale monitoring: www.achd.net/shale Current projects to reduce air toxics: Funds for diesel retrofits in and around Neville Island, and for small construction companies: www.achd.net/air/diesel: Healthy Homes: Upcoming fund to provide indoor air remediation projects for homes in the Avalon/Bellevue area (anticipated project start date: Spring, 2016)
Public Participation Public comment periods and public hearings are open to all. ACHD welcomes all public comments on proposed regulation changes and permits. www.alleghenycounty.us/alerts: Be notified of public comment periods on regulations as well as Air Quality Action Days and No Burn Days. 24- Hour Air Quality Complaint Line: 412-687-2243
Jim Kelly jkelly@achd.net Planning and Data Analysis Section Manager Allegheny County Health Department Air Quality Program www.achd.net/air