North Shore AIR

North Shore Air Inventory Report

Funded by the Environmental Protection Agency

HOW CAN WE REDUCE AIR POLLUTION:

In order to have the most impact on reducing air pollution, we first need to determine what we should reduce first. What specific chemicals, or group of chemicals, should be targeted, and how are those pollutants released to the air? If we look at the chemicals that pose the greatest risk, and then identify their sources- how will this differ from looking at single large (Major) sources for reductions based on quantity alone?

HOW SHOULD WE PRIORITIZE REDUCTION EFFORTS:

While the preceeding sections of this report have focused on the quantity of different types of pollutants being emitted into our air, data on amounts of the chemicals alone are inadequate to reach conclusions on the priority of reductions to be sought. There are a multitude of different characteristics that each chemical has, and that might be considered when prioritizing reduction strategies. Just because there is more of a certain chemical does not make it the most dangerous. Some chemicals such as heavy metals, including lead and mercury, can have negative health effects at very low levels of exposure, and can stay and accumulate in the environment over long periods of time. Such chemicals might have a higher priority for reduction than a chemical that is released in larger quantities but dissipates, or breaks down, in the environment rapidly and does not cause serious health effects.

Toxicity, or how dangerous a chemical is, to humans or the environment must also be considered. Each chemical has a different toxicity level, and may cause different types of illnesses that are seen as more or less burdensome. The risk posed by a chemical goes one step further, and considers not only the toxicity, but also looks at how the chemical may enter our system (breathing versus eating versus skin contact), the likelihood of that exposure, and how many people may be impacted.

This project looked at this task two ways:

EPA Prioritization - using EPA risk rankings, what chemicals pose greatest risk, and what reduction opportunities should be sought in our three communities.
Community Prioritization - using community input to determine a priority ranking scheme, what chemicals rank highest and thus what reduction opportunities should be sought in our three communities.

Summary of Overall Priority Ranking:

Based on this review of the data the following priorities for our target communities were identified using a combination of community and EPA risk ranking evaluation: