Episode 56CB. April 13, 2023. The “It’s easy to create CLEAN AIR” issue. The 1 “electric car creates clean air” issue. The 2 “wood burning stove ban creates clean air” issue.
Residents Against Wood Smoke Emission Particulates (see RAWSEPresidents.wordpress.com and Scroll Down for PDFs of articles with U R L’s to search on, and on the website are links to 10 minute Tiktok and Youtube videos and 30 minute podcasts on Spotify and Podbean).
Ep 56CB Game called on account of smoke Ep 56CC Electric Car PM2.5 regulated as Wood Smoke PM2.5 could be Ep 56CD Congress Dems PM2.5 8 micrometer limit, US thru Maine Ep 56CE Maryland through New Jersey Ep 56CF New York threatens renewable wood burning Ep 56CG Pennsylvania thru Wisconsin, NASA 1 of 2 Ep 56CH NASA 2 of 2, thru Japan 1 of 2 Ep 56Ci Japan 2 of2 thru Thailand Ep 56CJ Vietnam thru PM2.5 Dementia & Lung Cancer
How often do you hear the phrase, “the game was called on account of smoke”? Never. It is not a casual thing to be inundated with smoke. Smoke in a public place is not treated casually, and the source of smoke must be investigated and eliminated by authorities. The game was “called on account of rain” is a phrase that is used quite a lot, to show that mother nature had a hand in creating the weather, and no particular human being is criminally or civilly responsible for the rain. But if there is smoke on the field, everyone recognizes, or is soon told, that there is some serious human-caused problem, either by intention or negligence, and the stadium is evacuated. Entire towns have been evacuated recently because of smoke. It is a natural human reaction to warn others to get away from smoke, and a natural human self-protective reaction to attempt to escape from smoke stinging one’s eyes and choking one’s breath. If the idea of indoor Residential Wood Burning, which produces 90% particulates of 2.5 micrometer size, PM2.5, the perfect size to infiltrate the human lung, emissions that invade the yards and infiltrate the homes of near neighbors of residential wood burners, if this invasion of neighbor’s yards is hard to imagine, then think of how the neighbors live. Indoor wood burners live crouched around wood stoves, but their near neighbors live with wood smoke emitted from residential wood burner’s stacks, preventing near neighbors from the quiet enjoyment of their yards and homes, even in warm weather, because most residential wood burners do not burn based on the weather and most residential wood burners have alternate forms of heat, but only burn wood for ambience, aesthetics, current fashion, or maybe as a status symbol, since it has been proved that in many areas, residential wood burners are more affluent than their near neighbors. If residential wood burners are not affluent, but are indigent, the residential wood burners can obtain clean alternate forms of heat from the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (L I H E A P), with offices across the United States. There are also wood stove exchange programs which allow exchanges for Heat Pumps that work at temperatures well below zero. Residential wood burners create PM2.5 pollution not because they need to, but for a host of anti-social reasons, that are firstly antisocial because residential wood burners ignore the effect of their PM2.5 on their near neighbors, and not because wood burners are physically addicted to wood smoke as cigarette smokers are addicted to cigarettes because of nicotine. This is why there are analogies of residential wood burning to drunk driving, although alcoholics are addicted to alcohol and residential wood burners, again, cannot claim they are physically addicted to wood burning. Residential wood burning may be done as a way to bully near neighbors, or to prove that the wood burners exist to their neighbors, even if only as a noxious cloud. Possibly, residential wood burners may be blindly unaware that they have neighbors, and this must be brought to their attention, as if they have just arrived in civil society, and must be introduced to it. In 2023, during each firing up of their wood stove, each wood burner resembles a hot rodder with a faulty exhaust like that in a 1970’s movie called “Eat my dust”, free to continue through the whole movie to create car accidents, in the movie running in the residential wood burner’s mind. It’s not a pretty picture. In that way, Residents Against Wood Smoke Emission Particulates (RAWSEPresidents has analogies to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (M A D D). RAWSEPresidents would like PM2.5 monitors to be handed out by governments, probably by health departments, to any near neighbor who complains of wood smoke from a neighbor’s residential wood burning, and RAWSEPresidents would like data showing PM2.5 above E P A “safe” levels to be enough proof to shut down residential wood stoves. Both of these changes in society, new regulation, will require legislation in a state such as Wisconsin, or local ordinances across the U S that recognize the harm of PM2.5 from residential wood burning. There is also the example of the E PA’s recent nation-wide proposed regulation of automobile emissions that virtually guarantees we will soon be a nation of electric cars, relegating to the past gas-powered, PM2.5 polluting cars. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (M A D D) was influential in getting breathalyzers to be used by law enforcement to identify drunk drivers so drunk individuals could be stopped from driving before they caused accidents that maimed and killed others in their path. Even though a residential wood stove is a stationary source, and pinpointing the source of pollution, the individual residential wood burner’s stack, is not at all difficult with PM2.5 monitors at the fence line, in the yards of near neighbors, indoor residential wood burning is not adequately regulated, and is often not regulated at all. Harm to near neighbors in the form of ill health from lung cancer, asthma, cataracts, heart attacks, stroke, and dementia result from residential wood burning. It is not a favor to residential wood burners, and certainly not to their near neighbors, to ignore residential wood burning pollution. Data from each resident-owned PurpleAir PM2.5 monitor can be downloaded 24 hours a day seven days a week, allowing historic data collected every 10 minutes, including data from overnight and weekend residential wood burning, to be used by government officials during normal government working hours, allowing shutdown of residential wood burning without entering homes of residential wood burners nor requiring certification of wood stoves. The Office of the Inspector General (O I G), “watchdog” of the Environmental Protection Agency (E P A) issued a report in February 2023 stating that the certification of residential wood stoves was so flawed that wood stoves above E P A “safe” limits are routinely manufactured and sold, because of loopholes in E P A regulation, at the urging of wood stove lobbyists, that allow this failure. This success of the residential wood burning industry lobbyists resembles the lobbying of the tobacco industry in the past. In 2023 the faulty exhaust of a hot rodder may soon be a thing of the past, if it isn’t already, after President Biden’s new E P A regulations effectively mandating zero emissions from automobiles beginning gradually by 2032, come into effect. Both regulating PM2.5 pollution from vehicle emissions and effectively regulating PM2.5 pollution from residential wood burning will benefit society, in reducing health effects and climate change effects from both of these sources of PM2.5 pollution.
United States
Spring Cleaning Tradition.
New York Times.
RAWSEP View: Spring cleaning is a tradition begun in response to the caking of surfaces in the home with soot and dirt from burning wood in the winter. Better not to cake surfaces with soot and dirt in the first place, by stopping burning wood. Then there would be no need for physical purification in response to predictable soiling of the home. Perhaps then, wood burning people could focus on purification in other areas of their lives, leading to spiritual purification from increased care for their neighbors.
Excerpt edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity.
Spring cleaning has its roots in a dirtier time, when people heated their homes by burning wood and, later, coal, and the end of winter meant scrubbing surfaces caked with soot and dirt. The tradition endures today as an annual ritual of purification and renewal.
Republican Party Intrusive Government.
New York Times.
RAWSEP View: The article below can be read as a critique of Republican gerrymandering, corruption by wealthy, polluting, lobbying wood burning manufacturers, and the complicity in pollution, from duped consumers of residential wood stoves.
Excerpt edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity.
The two major elements of the Republican Party — “extremely wealthy individuals in an era of high economic inequality” and “a voter base motivated by cultural and demographic threat” — have a “hard time winning electoral majorities on the basis of their policy agendas (a high-end tax cut agenda for the elite base and a culturally reactionary agenda for the electoral base), which increases their incentive to tweak the rules of the game to their advantage.”
“At a certain point, the arc of history, which bends toward liberalism, means that traditional values among social conservatives lose their status,” which “is eventually reflected in progressive changes in the public policy agenda evident in many postindustrial societies during the late twentieth century, including concern about protection against environmental and climate change.”
Episode 56CC
Biden Electric Cars E P A.
New York Times.
RAWSEP View: The “It’s easy to create CLEAN AIR” issue. The 1 “electric car creates clean air” issue. The 2 “wood burning stove ban creates clean air” issue. As strict tailpipe emissions laws would effectively ban manufacture of gas-fueled cars, strict PM2.5 emission limits applied to wood burning stoves would effectively ban use of wood burning stoves, if PM2.5 monitors in the yards of near neighbors of residential wood burners were allowed to be used as evidence of pollution.
Excerpts edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity.
E.P.A. Lays Out Rules to Turbocharge Sales of Electric Cars and Trucks.
The Biden administration is proposing rules to ensure that two-thirds of new cars and a quarter of new heavy trucks sold in the U.S. by 2032 are all-electric.
The new rules would require nothing short of a revolution in the U.S. auto industry.
April 12, 2023.
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration proposed the nation’s most ambitious climate regulations to date, two plans designed to ensure two-thirds of new passenger cars and a quarter of new heavy trucks sold in the United States are all-electric by 2032.
Last year, all-electric vehicles were just 5.8 percent of new cars sold in the United States. All-electric trucks make up fewer than 2 percent of new heavy trucks sold.
Nearly all major automakers have already invested billions in producing electric vehicles at the same time as they continue to manufacture conventional vehicles powered by gasoline, which deliver their profits. The proposed regulations would require them to invest more heavily and reorient their processes in ways that would spell the end of the gas-powered internal combustion engine.
The two rules put the U S on track to slash its planet-warming emissions at the pace that scientists say is required of all nations to avert climate change.
This will “secure reductions in dangerous air and climate pollution and ensure economic benefits like lower fuel and maintenance costs,” the Environmental Protection Agency’s (E P A’s) administrator said.
Under the Clean Air Act, the E P A can limit the pollution generated by the total number of cars each car manufacturer sells. And the E P A can set that limit so tightly that the only way manufacturers can comply is to sell a certain percentage of zero emissions vehicles.
The proposed regulations face legal challenges based on the argument “government overreach”.
The proposed tailpipe pollution limits for cars are designed to ensure that 67 percent of sales of new light-duty passenger vehicles, from sedans to pickup trucks, will be all-electric by 2032.
Government scientists have spent a year analyzing electric vehicles to help the E.P.A. design new rules aimed at speeding up an electric car revolution.
General Motors is ending production of the Camaro sports car, but an electric version is likely.
A decline in the price of Lithium, the essential battery material, is making electric cars more affordable.
The E.P.A. proposed a companion rule governing heavy-duty vehicles, designed so that half of new buses and 25 percent of new heavy trucks sold would be all-electric by 2032.
Combined, the two rules would eliminate the equivalent of carbon dioxide emissions generated over two years by all sectors of the economy in the United States.
The E P A will accept public comments on the proposed rules before they are finalized in 2024. The rules would take effect starting with model year 2027.
The Inflation Reduction Act includes $370 billion in spending over the next decade to fight climate change, including tax incentives up to $7,500 for the purchase of American-made electric vehicles.
Washington, DC
RAWSEP View: It’s easy to create CLEAN AIR” issue. The 1 “electric car creates clean air” issue. The 2 “wood burning stove ban creates clean air” issue.
The Biden Administration’s plan to drive up Electric Car sales tenfold and ensure that electric cars make up the majority of new U.S. auto sales by 2032, is one way to reduce particulate emissions, as well as slow climate change. The other second way to reduce particulate emissions, as well as slow climate change, is to ban wood burning stoves.
New York Times
E.P.A. Is Said to Propose Rules Meant to Drive Up Electric Car Sales Tenfold
In what would be the nation’s most ambitious climate regulation, the proposal is designed to ensure that electric cars make up the majority of new U.S. auto sales by 2032.
President Biden delivered a speech at a General Motors electric vehicle assembly plant in Detroit in 2021. The new rules would exceed his earlier goal that half the cars sold in the United States be all-electric by 2030.
April 8, 2023.
Excerpts edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity.
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration plan is that all-electric cars make up 67 percent of new passenger vehicles sold in the U S by 2032.
Today just 5.8 percent of vehicles sold last year were all-electric. The European Union (E U) has already enacted vehicle emissions standards to phase out the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. Canada and Britain have proposed standards similar to the E U model. Many automakers have supply chain problems that hold up production. Some manufacturers are unsure whether consumers will buy enough electric vehicles to make up the majority of new car sales within a decade. If most Americans drive electric vehicles, demand would lessen for oil drilled in Alaska or elsewhere. The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (E P A) will announce proposed limits on tailpipe emissions on 4/12/2023 in Detroit, to ensure that electric cars represent between 54 and 60 percent of all new cars sold in the United States by 2030, rising to 64 to 67 percent of new car sales by 2032. Millions of new electric vehicle charging stations, an overhaul of electric grids to power electric vehicle chargers and obtaining minerals and other materials needed for batteries, will be needed if more electric vehicles are on the road. Biden Administration economists warned in an annual report that a warming planet posed severe economic challenges for the United States, which would require the federal government to reassess its spending priorities and examine how government spending priorities influence behavior. The proposed regulation, after a public comment period, could be altered by the government before becoming final, and is sure to be legally challenged. A Future Presidential administration could undo or weaken it. The new regulations would follow the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which provides up to $7,500 in tax incentives for car buyers as well as billions in incentives for battery manufacturing and critical mineral processing and mining. The proposed auto emissions rule is even more demanding than the target laid out by Mr. Biden in a White House speech in 2021. Surrounded by a line of electric vehicles, including a Ford F-150 Lightning, a Chevrolet Bolt EV and a Jeep Wrangler, Mr. Biden issued an executive order calling for federal policies to ensure that half of new cars sold would be all-electric by 2030. Experts say electric charging stations will need to be as numerous and as conveniently located as corner gas stations. The proposed vehicle emissions limit will be so strict that it will force carmakers to ensure that two thirds of the vehicles they sell are all-electric by 2032. The regulation would synchronize federal action with a move by California to ban sales of new gasoline-powered cars after 2035. Manufacturers would prefer to deal with one set of rules. A 2021 infrastructure law provided $7.5 billion to build 500,000 charging stations along federal highways, but a January report concluded that millions were needed. The transformation could cause economic dislocation for American autoworkers, as electric vehicles require less than half the laborers required to build gasoline-powered cars.
Only American-made electric vehicles would qualify for tax incentives of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Episode 56CD
Washington, DC, Congressional Democrats.
The Hill
Excerpts edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity.
In a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Democrats call for limits on the air pollution known as soot, pushing the EPA to allow no more than eight micrograms per cubic meter.
The agency earlier this year proposed a limit of between nine and 10 micrograms, though it said it will consider limits as low as eight or as high as 11.
“Adopting the most stringent annual standard proposed by EPA – 9 [micrograms per cubic meter] – saves 4,200 lives, but adopting the standard recommended by [the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee] – 8 [micrograms per cubic meter] – saves more than twice that number in the year 2032,” said the letter, led by Democratic Senator Ed Markey (Massachusetts), Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester (Delaware) and Representative Nanette Barragán (California).
Excerpts edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity.
Congressional Democrats call on EPA to tighten proposed soot standards.
03/28/2023
Senator Ed Markey, D-Mass., speaks about climate change during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Oct. 7, 2021, in Washington.
More than 80 congressional Democrats, led by Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.), urged the Biden administration to strengthen proposed rules on soot pollution in a letter Tuesday.
The letter calls the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) January proposal, which would set the ”safe” limit for fine particulate matter of 2.5 micrometer size, PM2.5, in the air at 9 to 10 micrograms per cubic meter, insufficient; instead they call for a “safe” limit of eight micrograms per cubic meter. This “safe” limit, the members wrote, is in keeping with the recommendations of the EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. The committee has said the lower “safe” limit would save double the amount of lives annually by 2032.
“The federal government has an obligation to remediate environmental injustices that for too long have been shouldered most by Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities across our country,” Markey said in a statement.
“No one should have to breathe unhealthy, toxic pollution on their doorstep or in their backyard,” he added. “EPA has an opportunity this year to strengthen our nation’s air quality standards, save countless lives, and put health and environmental justice front-and-center in our fight against toxic pollution.”
Markey co-led the letter with Reps. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.).
The EPA’s proposed rule, announced in January, is itself a tighter limit than the standard of 12 micrograms implemented in 2012 under the Obama administration, which the Trump administration opted to leave in place in 2020. Markey and his colleagues are not the first to call the proposed Biden standards inadequate.
PM2.5, also known as Soot pollution, exposure has been linked to premature deaths and heart and lung issues. It is a particular concern among environmental justice advocates as it disproportionately impacts low-income and minority communities.
After the January 2023 E P A announcement, environmental organizations also called for the stricter 8-microgram standards. The Environmental Defense Fund said in a report that this standard would save about 15,000 more lives a year than 10 micrograms, the looser interpretation of the proposed new EPA standard.
The World Health Organization has gone further, calling for a standard of 5 micrograms.
“We’ve received the letter and will respond through appropriate channels,” an EPA spokesperson said in an email.
Alabama
| Landfills catch fire, briefly, all over America. Why did one in Alabama burn for months? USA Today A landfill fire burned for more than four months in Alabama, polluting the … The wood preservative creosote is highly combustible and the EPA … |
Indiana
| Pole barn destroyed after blaze in Indianapolis – Fox 59 Fox 59 The fire department suspects that a wood burning stove may be to blame, according to a statement released on twitter. |
Kentucky
Kentucky Residents Angered by US Forest Service Logging Plan That Targets Mature Trees
Inside Climate News.
Maine, Brunswick
RAWSEP View: This Maine letter to the editor only mentions “fossil fuel” burning, not wood burning. Was this honest ignorance or willful ignorance of the fact that wood burning produces more particulates of 2.5 micrometer size, PM2.5, than the fossil fuel, coal, burning, and wood burning produces 450 times the particulates of the cleanest fossil fuel, natural gas, burning for home heating?
Stopping residential wood burning is something that individuals can stop doing, and it is easy to monitor and regulate Residential Wood Burning. If any neighbor of a residential wood burner complains of the PM2.5 from the stack of a residential wood burner or at the fence line, which in this instance would be the yard of the near neighbor, a PM2.5 monitor can be handed out to them by the government. PM2.5 enters the yards and infiltrates the homes of near neighbors. If governments handed out PurpleAir PM2.5 monitors to any neighbor who complains, the data about the level of PM2.5 reaching the neighbor’s yard will be collected every 10 minutes, and put on a PurpleAir online map, and historical data, such as for overnight and weekends would be available for download to the general public and government officials. PurpleAir data can be downloaded during normal government working hours, and if used as evidence of pollution exceeding E P A levels, can be used to shut down Residential Wood Burning without having to enter the wood burner’s residence or check the certification of a wood stove. The PurpleAir data from every $249 monitor is also put on US Environmental Protection Agency (E P A) maps of Smoke and Fire alongside standard E P A $100,000 PM2.5 monitor data, correlated with a simple mathematical formula. The Office of the Inspector General (O I G) released a report in February 2023 stating that the E P A wood stove certification program was flawed, and because of wood stove industry lobbying, had loopholes that allowed polluting wood stoves to continue to be manufactured and sold.
| Letter to the editor: Fine particulate matter is making us sick – The Portland Press Herald The Portland Press Herald Most fine particulate matter – PM 2.5 microns (about 1/30th the width of a human hair) – comes from burning fossil fuels. |
Excerpts edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity.
Letter to the editor: Fine particulate matter is making us sick.
If you’re worried, call or email the Maine congressional delegation and demand that they end fossil fuel subsidies and support a price on carbon.
Most fine particulate matter – PM 2.5 microns (about 1/30th the width of a human hair) – comes from burning fossil fuels. A new study published last month in The Lancet Planetary Health says world PM 2.5 is higher than air quality guidelines of the World Health Organization.”
Doctors have long known that people exposed to obviously polluted air often suffer from lung disease, with the estimate for 2019 being 7 million deaths.
Fine particulate matter is in the air we breathe and affects more than our lungs. it spreads through our bloodstream to our organs, causing inflammation, contributing to premature birth and cardiovascular disease and causing asthma and lung cancer.
Worried? Call or email Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden and demand they stop subsidizing fossil fuels and place a surcharge (price) on carbon.
letter writer from Brunswick, Maine.
Comment.
Science is hard.
Episode 56CE
Maryland
A University of Maryland Health Researcher Probes the Climate Threat to Those with Chronic Diseases.
People living with heart and kidney ailments are particularly vulnerable to surging temperatures and extreme weather events, which can fatally interrupt their treatment leading to death.
April 7, 2023
Excerpts edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity.
Patients are quickly evacuated from the Feather River Hospital as it burns down during the Camp fire in Paradise, California on November 8, 2018. Amir Sapkota keeps a close eye on weather anomalies such as late onset of snowfall or early snowmelt because, for one, they can prolong the forest fire season and lead to a variety of health hazards. “It’s also an occupational hazard,” said Sapkota, a professor and chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health in College Park. Prolonged wildfires can lead to increased hospitalization and mortality, he said, especially at a time when global warming is fueling severe weather events such as heatwaves.
Minnesota
| Popular downtown Grand Marais custard and pizza shop burns down – Star Tribune Star Tribune As he drove out of town, he got a phone call: Sydney’s Frozen Custard and Wood-Fired Pizza was on fire. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office said the fire … Fire destroys popular north shore frozen custard and pizza stop – KARE 11 KARE 11 Smoke fills the sun-splashed sky above Grand Marais as popular frozen custard and wood-fire pizza joint Sydney’s is destroyed by fire. (Courtesy … | |
| Grand Marais restaurant burns | News, weather, and sports from Duluth, Minnesota Duluth News Tribune Sydney’s Frozen Custard & Wood-Fired Pizza was significantly damaged Monday. White smoke billows up from a burning building. Smoke rises from Sydney’s … Mississippi, Pascagoula https://www.wlox.com/2023/02/15/pascagoula-residents-push-property-buyout-following-more-reports-strong-industry-odor/?fbclid=IwAR1BZ8UZ7d1eEDPddccx29a6aQt3F3J2En2CGsUtmqfiC5ugsix5A7CXRBA Pascagoula residents push for property buyout following more reports of strong industry odor. Pascagoula residents fight for better air quality. Feb. 14, 2023 Excerpts edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity. PASCAGOULA, Miss. (WLOX) – A group of concerned citizens living near the Cherokee subdivision in Pascagoula are fighting for better air quality in the Flagship City by teaming up with a national organization full of promises. Over the years, a woman and a neighbor, who moved to Mohawk Avenue about 30 years ago, have taken air monitoring and testing on themselves. They also performed a health survey in the area back in January 2021. Last week. Calls rang into the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. “When we get the volume of complaints that we did this time, we knew something was going on, and we’re still investigating what happened,”. Wells said his agency took 600 readings in over 60 locations last week. But on Tuesday, they’re still unable to track down the source. “In this case, we began the air monitoring during the time that the odor complaints were made aware,” The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for year-long air monitoring in the Cherokee subdivision area. According to Wells, that funding is still on the way. In the meantime, residents will soon begin surveying 200 households over the next two months. Montana https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07042023/logging-deforestation-custer-gallatin-national-forest/ Inside Climate News Logging Plan on Yellowstone’s Border Shows Limits of Biden Greenhouse Gas Policy Despite new “guidance,” the Forest Service moves to clear-cut mature pines in Montana without a detailed accounting of the cost in carbon emissions. April 7, 2023 Custer Gallatin National Forest includes hundreds of glaciers as well as pine savannas. The Forest Service plans logging about 90 miles south of Fairy Lake in the Bridger Mountains, How Auditing Giant KPMG Became a Global Sustainability Leader While Serving Companies Accused of Forest Destruction Environmental Auditors Approve Green Labels for Products Linked to Deforestation and Authoritarian Regimes This story by Inside Climate News is part of Deforestation Inc., a global investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Excerpt edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity. U.S. government agencies are expected to quantify the climate impact of their actions under new guidance issued by President Joe Biden’s administration at the start of this year. But last month, the U.S. Forest Service decided to move forward with a 16,000-acre logging project on the border of Yellowstone National Park without applying the new White House guidance, which would have involved a detailed projection of the resulting greenhouse gas emissions. The Forest Service said it was already in the final stages of developing its management plan for the South Plateau in Custer Gallatin National Forest in Montana when the White House Council on Environmental Quality delivered the new guidance to federal agencies on Jan. 9. As a result, the agency announced its decision on March 15 without calculating the cost of the sequestered carbon that would be released under the plan, which includes clear-cutting 5,500 acres of mature lodgepole pine trees and constructing 57 miles of logging roads in the heart of grizzly bear country. Instead, the Forest Service produced a brief analysis concluding that the climate impact was likely to be small and “temporary.” The decision raises questions about the practical import of such presidential “guidance” and other White House declarations and the Biden administration’s overall commitment to arresting climate change. Even though Biden embraces the climate science that President Donald Trump rejected and has signed legislation pouring billions of federal dollars into addressing the crisis, the logging controversies suggest that he is far from achieving the kind of “all of government” urgency on climate that has been his stated goal. |
New Jersey, Crozier
Fresh Start Stolen From Single NJ Mom Severely Burned By Wood-Burning Stove – Daily Voice
Daily Voice
Ancello was trying to light the wood-burning stove in her kitchen on Saturday, March 25, when the flames shot back at her — covering her legs in …
Mom Burned By Wood-Burning Stove In New Home Recovering In Crozier – Daily Voice
Daily Voice
Jessica Ancello’s new South Jersey home was supposed to be a fresh start.The 29-year-old Williamstown newly-divorced mom of two toddlers hadn’t …
Mom Burned By Wood-Burning Stove In New Home Recovering In Crozier.
04/08/2023
Jessica Ancello’s new South Jersey home was supposed to be a fresh start.
The 29-year-old Williamstown newly-divorced mom of two toddlers hadn’t been living there for even a month when tragedy struck.
Ancello was trying to light the wood-burning stove in her living room on Saturday, March 25, when someone in the home poured gas onto the wood — shooting flames shot back at Ancello’s legs.
A neighbor heard her screams and called 911. Since then, Ancello has been unable to walk.
Episode 56CF
New York
RAWSEP View: A New York State bill sponsored by democratic State Sen. Kevin Parker, sneaks in a clause that many overlooked. It suggests changing the definition of what is considered renewable energy under the state law to include electricity produced from burning wood, a process known as “forest bio power” or forest biomass. It is disheartening that Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is one of those involved in trying to keep the Black River biomass plant open.
| Bill to Alter NY’s Climate Law Includes 11th-Hour Bid to Keep State’s Last Biomass Power Plant Open City Limits … energy to include the burning of wood, known as forest biomass. … the state law to include electricity produced from burning wastes like cow … |
Bill to Alter NY’s Climate Law Includes 11th-Hour Bid to Keep State’s Last Biomass Power Plant Open
Lawmakers are trying to keep the Black River power plant at Fort Drum from closing by changing the state’s definition of renewable energy to include the burning of wood, known as forest biomass. This process has been scientifically proven to pollute more than coal.
Excerpts edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity.
Office of the New York Governor.
Environmental groups were rattled last month by the introduction of legislation that seeks to change how the state’s 2019 Climate Act accounts for greenhouse gas emissions. But the new bill, sponsored by democratic State Sen. Kevin Parker, also sneaks in another clause that many overlooked.
It suggests changing the definition of what is considered renewable energy under the state law to include electricity produced from burning wood, a process known as “forest bio power” or forest biomass.
The inclusion of forest biomass in particular concerns the environmental community because it’s been scientifically proven to produce elevated quantities of carbon emissions. Adding it to the state’s definition of renewable energy, environmentalists say, would be a significant step back in phasing out its use in New York, and would set a bad example for the rest of the country.
And the language in the present New York State bill includes a curious caveat: the new definition would apply only to power plants producing forest biomass “as of December 31, 2022.” Environmentalists who spoke to City Limits said the time frame signals a move from lawmakers to stop the shutdown of ReEnergy Black River, the last biomass power plant with a government contract left standing in New York.
Located near the northern border upstate inside a U.S. Army base known as Fort Drum, the plant supplies electricity to the base and is marketed as “the largest renewable energy project in the history of the U.S. Army.” Black River relies on a contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to function, but the 20-year agreement expires in May and the state has shown no intent in renewing it.
The Black River (wood burning) plant stopped running on March 31, 2023 and is now laying-off employees, according to ReEnergy Holdings, the company that owns the facility.
Meanwhile U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a senior member of the Armed Services Committee and an avid supporter of the plant since its opening in 2014, reportedly spoke to leaders in the state Assembly and Senate to keep Fort Drum’s plant from closing earlier this year.
“Elected officials have been lobbying the state to provide funding for this facility and keep it operating using very disturbing language that claims forest biomass is clean [energy],” said the U.S. policy director at Partnership for Policy Integrity (PFPI), an environmental organization that opposes efforts to keep the Black River plant alive.
“Burning [forest] biomass is not carbon neutral. That’s been completely debunked by science for over a decade,”.
The green label that yields profits
Forest biomass production is being phased out in New York because it has been scientifically proven to pollute more than coal.
Black River’s biomass power plant is permitted to emit more than 2,500 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt an hour. Meanwhile, coal plants, which New York has phased out due to their climate impacts, emit 2,180 pounds of carbon per megawatt an hour.
Both of the bills that Sen. Parker sponsored would allow the Black River (a wood burning company) to continue selling Renewable Energy Credits (R E C’s) by changing the definition of renewable energy to include biomass production. But only one included language to extend the contract with NYSERDA “until November 30, 2034.” This bill was introduced in last year and was put back on the table in February 2023.
Black River hopes the legislation can still turn things around.
21 environmental groups signed a letter opposing the allocation of state funds to keep the Black River Plant from closing, claiming it will cost taxpayers money “without advancing compliance with New York’s renewable energy or climate mandates.”
PFPI is denouncing Black River’s attempt to change the definition of renewable energy in the Climate Law.
“A bailout would change an entire [climate] law and produce a step backward in a nation-leading definition of renewable energy,”
Debunking the carbon neutral myth
Back in 2016, the United Nations cited biomass in its definition of renewable energy, but over the past decade, scientists debunked the myth that burning forest residue can be sustainable..
A biochemist who put together New York’s Climate Act, says “it may take 100 years for the forest to regrow” and offset wood burning emissions.
Under the New York State Climate Act’s definition of renewable, forest biomass “didn’t make the cut,”
“what we really need to focus on is using energy produced from wind, solar, hydro power to produce electricity that runs heat pumps and homes and electric vehicles on our roads,”
A study produced by the environmental advocacy group Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) examined each step in the forest biomass supply chain. It looked at a specific scenario in which forest residue collected in the U.S. is converted into wood chips and shipped to the U.K. to be burned for energy.
“No matter where you’re burning the wood, there will be emissions in addition to the emissions released by the [smoke]stack. So when you don’t account for those emissions, you are missing a major part of the climate impact,” said Sami Yassa, a senior scientist at NRDC who worked on the study.
Just like burning fossil fuels, burning wood produces a series of “air pollutants that cause health harms, from asthma attacks to cancer to heart attacks, resulting in hospital visits and premature deaths,”.
Adding forest biomass back into the definition of renewable energy in New York State will be a step backwards in phasing out the practice of burning wood for energy nationwide. There are 135 biomass power plants operating across the country that reported burning solid wood in 2022.
“If the U.S. Congress, or individual states attempt to erroneously claim that forest biomass is carbon neutral, It will set back our efforts to reduce emissions and address climate change.”
Parker’s bill seeks to change how the Climate Act accounts for greenhouse gas emissions and tweaks the definition of Renewable Energy to include biomass.
| Woodland fire warning issued in Westchester County, officials say – ABC7 New York ABC7 New York The burning of tree limbs or other organic debris is not permitted … of any charcoal used in a grill or ashes from wood burned in a fireplace. With Increased Fire Danger, DEC Reminds New Yorkers: Annual Residential Brush Burning … New York State Department of Environmental Conservation DEC enforces the annual brush burning ban to prevent wildfires and … Only charcoal or dry, clean, untreated, or unpainted wood can be burned. Episode 56CG Pennsylvania, Braddock https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27032023/nvironmental-justice-department-energy-braddock-pennsylvania-pa-hydrogen-hub/ In Braddock, Imagining Environmental Justice for a ‘Sacrifice Zone’ As the U.S. Department of Energy pushes new technologies, concerns and opportunities manifest in the “birthplace of steel.” Excerpts edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity. March 27, 2023 Along the Monongahela River, Braddock Avenue runs between train tracks and U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson Works, which occupies parts of Braddock, North Braddock, East Pittsburgh, and North Versailles. “I live in North Braddock. I live in a sacrifice zone.” A collection of engineers, scientists, and officials from the U.S. Department of Energy [DOE] peered back at her, seated in a conference room at an agency-sponsored carbon capture workshop at Hazelwood Green in December. “You may ask: How did I get here? Why is it that I am standing here talking to you today?” Edith, a professional artist and self-described “activist for imagination,” has led grassroots advocacy in her community since 2014. She successfully organized to stop bids to frack at U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson Works and at the Grand View Golf Club in North Braddock, Pennsylvania. For months, she and a handful of locals representing North Braddock Residents for Our Future had been speaking with department officials. The DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations was born from the bipartisan infrastructure law in 2021, strapped with $25 billion and given an urgent mandate to help the U.S. achieve decarbonization goals in the face of a global climate crisis. “We want to empower communities to make their own determinations on their needs. Truly, only folks on the ground know what is really needed.” “Is it possible for you to imagine a carbon-free future that benefits all? And how do we get there?” Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh Engineering students monitoring air quality on campus – The Tartan The Tartan Particulate matter in the air may not be visible, but its effect on health … in the air at a width of 2.5 micrometers, matter known as PM 2.5, … Excerpts edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity. Engineering students are monitoring air quality on campus. April 9, 2023 Particulate matter in the air may not be visible, but its effect on health can be very real. In Carnegie Mellon’s Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE class) a group of students is studying air quality levels around campus. Their main goal is to better understand air particulates. The course “Experimental & Sensing Systems Design” uses sensors to take and analyze measurements. “Pittsburgh is known for its air quality issues,” Facilities management invested in 15 sensors that the students could deploy. Capable of sensing particulates in the air at a width of 2.5 micrometers, matter known as PM 2.5, the sensors by PurpleAir are low-cost and provide publicly available data the students can access and investigate. Students wanted to answer questions. When is the safest time to exercise outdoors? Are there patterns for when air quality peaks and falls? Are there any locations of concern on campus? How does campus air quality compare to the Pittsburgh region? Students inform community members about local air quality situation and risks. The ultimate goal is helping people avoid harmful air particles. air quality can fluctuate day-to-day and even hour-to-hour. the class was assigned to read the work of Carnegie Mellon’s Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies, to get an understanding of how the sensors work. The sensors used in the students’ project were first calibrated in the CEE basement laboratory and adjusted to Pittsburgh’s specific air standards. The sensors were placed in carefully selected locations based on wind direction and ambient pollution sources. Each team had three sensors to place, with the only constraint being the need to connect to a power source. They considered Bellefield Boiler Plant, a power station nearby to campus, as one point source, as well as busy roadways. Being able to deploy a large number of sensors allows for “a good map of what’s really happening,” The sensors have been collecting data since February 22, taking a sample of air quality every 10 minutes and posting the publicly available results live on the PurpleAir website. After collecting the data, the class will spend time making sense of it all. Each team will present their findings in a final presentation as the project’s conclusion, with the goal of eventually sharing that knowledge with the school to improve campus wellbeing. Tennessee, Dayton How race and income can determine the quality of the air you breathe | News Rhea County Herald-News … have consistently higher levels of nitrogen dioxide, a gas found in vehicular exhaust and industrial emissions, and PM 2.5 pollution. Excerpt edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity. Black and Hispanic Americans tend to live in neighborhoods with greater exposure to air pollution due to a generations long legacy of housing segregation. Black Americans over age 65, in particular, experience three times the number of PM2.5-attributable deaths per capita compared to other races, likely from the combination of increased exposure and greater prevalence of medical conditions like lung and cardiovascular diseases. The rate of lung cancer among people who never smoked, when broken down by race, was highest in Black and Hispanic patients, according to a 2021 study published by the JAMA Network. While the study does not attribute these cases solely to air pollution, it recognizes it as a potential factor. Historically redlined neighborhoods tend to be characterized by less air-purifying greenspace and tree canopy. Consequently, residents are more vulnerable to the urban heat island effect, which can exacerbate air pollution levels and increase mortality. Washington State Why Household Items Could Be Polluting Your Home – Right as Rain by UW Medicine Right as Rain by UW Medicine Additionally, wood and gas stoves can cause smoke that pollutes the home … This includes not smoking inside the house, closing doors and windows … |
Wisconsin
| Very High Fire Danger Across Southern Half Of Wisconsin Wisconsin DNR – Wisconsin.gov … Washington, Waukesha, Waupaca, Waushara, Winnebago and Wood counties. DNR burning permit restrictions and fire danger vary from county to … |
NASA tracking Air Pollution
RAWSEP View: Some smokestack emission tests show burning wood results in carbon emissions 2.5 times higher than natural gas and 30 percent higher than coal. When wood is burned, oxygen and other elements in the air (mainly carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen) react to form carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere, while the minerals turn into ashes. Dwelling B with a 300% efficient electric heat pump has a heating demand of 10,000 kWh. The PE factor for electricity is 1.501 kWh/kWh. The associated primary energy would be (10,000 kWh / 3.00) x 1.50110 = 5,003 kWh.
CO2 Emissions Per kWh By Fuel Type Analysis Chart
| Fuel | Emissions in g CO2/kWhPE |
| Wood | 367.6 |
| Lignite | 398.7 |
| Hard Coal | 338.2 |
| Gasoline | 263. |
Episode 56CH
NASA Is Getting Really Serious About Tracking Air Pollution.
Excerpts edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity.
NASA is tackling air quality from all angles—for the health of people and the planet.
4/9/2023 Just after midnight, the NASA launched its first instrument capable of hovering over North America to spy on urban pollution. This summer, the team will enhance that data with measurements taken by aircraft. NASA also just announced its first satellite mission that will be done in partnership with health experts to reveal the relationship between specific health conditions and the toxic airborne particles lingering above some of the world’s largest cities.
Overall, they want to create a granular portrait of what exactly is in the sky, and how it got there. A granular portrait can’t be detailed with ground-based pollution monitors alone. Seventy-nine percent of US counties lack an Environmental Protection Agency monitor on the ground, so the EPA’s information isn’t representative of the air most Americans are breathing. Data from other parts of the world is even more sparse. “The transition to urban air quality monitoring is relatively new.” There are challenges to monitoring emissions over anything as small as a city—much less a neighborhood—from a space as gigantic as the sky. The agency’s first satellite dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, launched in 2014 and is still active. Its successor, OCO-3, is now mounted on the International Space Station. The two have produced detailed area maps of carbon emissions over the Los Angeles basin and from Europe’s largest power plant. But while OCO-3 passes over nearly every city on Earth, its information is still limited because it lacks continuous monitoring of any location over long periods.
Science Moms
Youtube Video: “Moms are really excited about clean energy” (a heat pump, won on a game show).
Canada, British Columbia
Wood debris piles to be burned in Seymour Ridge area – CFNR Network
CFNR Network
The BC Wildfire Service and Ministry of Forests Wildfire Risk Reduction Program warn that smoke may be visible from Highway 16, Smithers, Telkwa, and …
United Kingdom
U K, Birmingham
RAWSEP View: An Australian woman, telling her wood burning neighbor that she is polluting, is not brutal or raging. The Australian woman’s hand-written letter simply states that the wood burning neighbor is polluting the neighbor woman’s back yard. The letter states that the woman and her children cannot go outside their home into their own yard and enjoy the spring weather in peace and in clean air. Below is the latest example of the U K tabloids repeatedly showing a photo taken of the hand-written letter, apparently trying to mock the Australian woman by using words like “brutal” and “angry” and “raging”. The U K tabloids are apparently catering to their wood burning readers in the U K who would like to feel they are being traumatized by having to give up their wood burning, which produces pollution, and which serves no purpose in their empty lives, but is a polluting, inefficient, time-wasting, “tradition” that they don’t want to break. Residential wood burning is not even physically addictive like the nicotine in cigarettes is addictive to smokers. Cigarette smoking is banned in workplaces now, and wood burning stoves can be banned in residential areas for the same reasons, for public health. Residential wood burning additionally contributes to climate change.
If there was a law stating that the government has to hand out particulate monitors, such as PurpleAir PM2.5 monitors to every resident who complains to the government of wood burning smoke from their wood burning neighbor’s PM2.5 smoke entering their yards and infiltrating their homes, and if there was a law stating that the government would have to use the PM2.5 monitor data showing pollution exceeding PM2.5 E P A “safe” limits as evidence to shut down the polluting wood stoves, this woman would not have to make her individual case to the wood burning neighbor. The government in that instance would be ensuring the woman’s right to clean air for herself and her children, without the case being breathlessly covered by the tabloids as some sort of “scandal”.
Raging neighbour sends brutal letter to woman using wood-burning fire – Birmingham Live
Birmingham Live
| A woman has shared the angry letter that she received from her next-door neighbors over her use of her wood-burning fireplace. U K, Brighton https://thebrightonblade.com/stories/how-race-and-income-can-determine-the-quality-of-the-air-you-breathe,428955 How race and income can determine the quality of the air you breathe Using data published in the Science Advances journal and a report for the Environmental Defense Fund, Stacker looked at disparities in particulate pollution exposure in the U.S. April 7, 2023 Using data published in the Science Advances journal and a report for the Environmental Defense Fund, Stacker looked at disparities in particulate pollution exposure in the U.S. |
Asia
Japan
RAWSEP View: Japan’s “Green Revolution” is Greenwashing since it is simply replacing Coal burning with Wood burning, which is more polluting than Coal burning. The list of organizations protesting this replacement of coal burning by wood burning is extensive and is included in full here.
NGO Joint Statement: Co-firing of Biomass in Coal Plants or Conversion of Coal Power …
Mighty Earth
Wood pellets are one of the primary biomass fuels used for biomass co-firing at … Doctors and Scientists Against Wood Smoke Pollution (DSAWSP).
NGO Joint Statement: Co-firing of Biomass in Coal Plants or Conversion of Coal Power Plants to Dedicated Biomass Power Plants is Greenwashing
April 11, 2023
Excerpt of letter edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity.
Biomass accelerates climate change and destroys forest ecosystems. In Japan, the co-firing of biomass in coal power plants and conversion of coal-fired power plants to biomass are currently taking place at a rapid pace. Already 31 coal-fired units, or about half of the coal-fired power plants of major power utilities, are co-firing with biomass. At least 40 of the renewable energy feed-in-tariff (FIT) approved biomass power projects are at coal power plants, and 35 of these plants are designated as “inefficient” (sub-critical or super-critical). Biomass co-firing for industrial self-generation at in-house coal-fired power plants and other power plants is also part of Japan’s “Green Transformation” (GX) policy.
Hereby, we urge the Japanese government to take following measures:
Achieve a coal exit as soon as possible, regardless of biomass co-firing.
Do not support biomass co-firing or dedicated biomass power plants.
Exclude biomass power generation that uses fuels other than waste from the definition of renewable energy. and do not provide subsidies or other support.
Require that CO2 emissions from biomass combustion be accounted for at the power plant level.
Count CO2 emissions from biomass combustion by the consuming country and incorporate this into their carbon accounting.
Signatories (90 organizations)
| Friends of the Earth Japan | Japan |
| Greenpeace Japan | Japan |
| HUTAN Group | Japan |
| Kiko Network | Japan |
| Global Environmental Forum | Japan |
| Japan Tropical Forest Action Network | Japan |
| Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies | Japan |
| Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society | Japan |
| Climate Action Network Japan （CAN-Japan） | Japan |
| Citizens Alliance for Saving the Atmosphere and the Earth (CASA) | Japan |
| A SEED JAPAN | Japan |
| 350.org Japan | Jap |
| Episode 56Ci Forests, Climate and Biomass Working Group – Environmental Paper Network | International |
| Mighty Earth | USA |
| 350 Eugene | USA |
| 350 Triangle | USA |
| AbibiNsroma Foundation | Ghana |
| Australian Forests and Climate Alliance | Australia |
| Biofuelwatch | UK/USA |
| Blue Dalian | China |
| Castlemaine Residents Against Biomass | Australia |
| Center for Biological Diversity | USA |
| Central California Environmental Justice Network | USA |
| Coast Range Association | USA |
| Coastal Plain Conservation Group | USA |
| Comite Schone Lucht | Clean Air Committee NL | Netherlands |
| Community Partners Across the South | USA |
| Conservation North | Canada |
| Consumers’ Association of Penang | Malaysia |
| De Bomenbond | Netherlands |
| De Klimaatcoalitie | Netherlands |
| Doctors and Scientists Against Wood Smoke Pollution (DSAWSP) | USA |
| Dogwood Alliance | USA |
| Earth Action, Inc. | USA |
| Earth Neighborhood Productions | USA |
| EARTHDAY.ORG | USA |
| EDSP ECO | Netherlands |
| Endangered Species Coalition | USA |
| Environment East Gippsland inc | Australia |
| EPIC- Environmental Protection Information Center | USA |
| Federatie tegen Biomassacentrales | Netherlands |
| Fern | EU |
| FIAN Sri Lanka | Sri Lanka |
| Forest Watch Indonesia | Indonesia |
| Forum Ökologie & Papier | Germany |
| Friends of the Clearwater | USA |
| Friends of the Earth US | USA |
| Gippsland Environment Group | Australia |
| Global Justice Ecology Project | USA |
| Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Cascade-Volcanoes Chapter | United States |
| Green Cove Defense Committee | USA |
| Green Longjiang | China |
| Green Snohomish | USA |
| Himalaya Niti Abhiyan | India |
| Hunter Knitting Nannas | Australia |
| Independent Forestry Monitoring Network (JPIK) | Indonesia |
| John Muir Project | USA |
| Kaoem Telapak | Indonesia |
| Kitsap Environmental Coalition | USA |
| Landelijk Netwerk Bossen- en Bomenbescherming | Netherlands |
| Leefmilieu | Netherlands |
| Maíra Institute | Brazil |
| Natural Resources Defense Council | USA |
| Nature Nova Scotia | Canada |
| NC Climate Solutions Coalition | United States |
| No Electricity from Forests | Australia |
| Ole Siosiomaga Society Incorporated (OLSSI) | Samoa |
| Pakaid | Pakistan |
| Partnership for Policy Integrity | USA |
| Pivot Point | USA |
| PNW Forest Climate Alliance | USA |
| Profundo | Netherlands |
| River coalition | Czech Republic |
| Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth) | Malaysia |
| Save Estonia’s Forests (Päästame Eesti Metsad) | Estonia |
| Scholar Tree Alliance | China |
| Snow Alliance | China |
| Solutions for Our Climate | South Korea |
| South East Region Conservation Alliance (SERCA) | Australia |
| Southern Environmental Law Center | USA |
| Spruill Farm Conservation Project | USA |
| Southern Forests Conservation Coalition | USA |
| Stand.earth | Canada |
| Standing Trees | USA |
| Sunflower Alliance | USA |
| The Corner House | UK |
| Thurston Climate Action Team | USA |
| Trend Asia | Indonesia |
| Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment | USA |
| Wild Nature Institute | USA |
| WOLF Forest protection movement | Slovakia |
India, Delhi
High levels of PM 2.5 lowers antibody response to Covid jabs – Daily Pioneer
Daily Pioneer
Now, a study has linked higher levels of toxic particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and black carbon to lower antibody responses to …
Excerpts edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity.
Air pollution for long has been linked to adverse health outcomes, including lung cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and diabetes. Now, a study has linked higher levels of toxic particulate matter (PM2.5), to lower antibody responses to Covid-19 vaccines.
In the journal ‘Environmental Health Perspectives’ exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), was associated with about a 10 per cent fall in IgM and IgG antibody responses in people without prior infection.
An ISGlobal researcher and his team showed an association between pre-pandemic exposure to air pollution and a higher risk of developing severe Covid-19. “Air pollutants have been shown to affect immune responses,” “so in this study we wished to determine whether air pollution also affects antibody responses to COVID-19 vaccines”.
Data was from 927 participants of the GCAT Genomes for Life cohort (aged 40 to 65 years), who answered questionnaires and gave blood samples in the summer of 2020 (right after the first lockdown) and in the spring of 2021 (after the start of Covid-19 vaccination).
All had received one or two doses of the main COVID-19 vaccines administered in Spain (made by AstraZeneca, Pfizer or Moderna). The research team measured IgM, IgG, and IgA antibodies to five viral antigens (three of them on the Spike protein contained in the vaccine). Exposure to fine particulate matter was estimated for each participant based on his or her address before the pandemic.
Thailand
| Hazy on the details – Bangkok Post Bangkok Post However, it is unlikely the virtual meeting, which the prime minister hosted … The public health crises caused by the fine-dust particles PM 2.5 … | |
| Chiang Mai People Sign a Petition to the Court for PM 2.5 Khaosod English Chiang Mai People Sign a Petition to the Court for PM 2.5 … Law to support the lawsuit filed against Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, … Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar discuss solutions for PM 2.5 pollution – Scandasia Scandasia Thailand’s prime minister Gen. Prayut Chan-ocha recently hosted an online meeting to discuss the collaboration to solve PM2.5 pollution with Sonexay … Episode 56CJ Vietnam Vietnam capital struggles with severe air pollution – Thai PBS World Thai PBS World Tags: air pollution · Hanoi · PM 2.5 · Vietnam. Share Post. Chiang Mai civic groups file class action suits against PM, NEB and SEC. | |
| Air pollution linked to higher dementia rates – News Medical News Medical PM2.5 are fine air particles/droplets two and one-half microns or less in … evidence of the relationship between PM2.5 and clinical dementia, … Study strengthens link between air pollution and dementia – Fronteras Desk Fronteras Desk Chan School of Public Health offers the strongest evidence yet linking dementia risk to fine particulates in the air such as PM-2.5s — particles … | |
| Just 3 Years of Air Pollution Can Increase Lung Cancer Risk, Study Warns – ScienceAlert ScienceAlert Fine particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) can get deep into the lungs and have been linked to numerous health problems, … Appendix United States Massachusetts, Northampton RAWSEP View: Wood burning emits more particulates than coal burning and emits 450 times the particulates than natural gas burning. The article below ignores reality and focuses on saving money by polluting. Matt L. Barron: Wood is good – Daily Hampshire Gazette Daily Hampshire Gazette Shockingly, Massachusetts’ five industrial incinerators burn ~7-10,000 tons … Emissions from modern wood heating systems (given a clean bill of … Matt L. Barron: Wood is good. 4/7/2023 Excerpts edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity. Regarding March 21 article on modern wood heating [“A place for wood in state’s green future”]. It is refreshing to read about something other than electric cars and solar panels. Regrettably, the fuel that propels our heat pumps and EVs is simply not that green. As I write (on a sunny day) there is only 11% renewables in the grid … one-third of which is from burning trash. Shockingly, Massachusetts’ five industrial incinerators burn ~7-10,000 tons of trash per day … all of which earns “renewable,” waste to energy credits. For our commonwealth to meet its ambitious 2050 decarbonization goals under the Massachusetts Clean Energy and Climate Plan, modern wood heating must be part of the equation, especially for rural communities. Remember, Gov. Maura Healey has called for the deployment of 1GW of solar, per year. This equals 5,000 acres of new solar per year. We can do better. The New Hingham Elementary School in Chesterfield could be efficiently/renewably/cleanly fueled by wood chips or pellets. Save (taxpayers in Chesterfield and Goshen) more than $15,000/yr. and eliminate more than 86 tons of annual CO2 emissions. As both towns are designated Green Communities the state would pay the entire cost of this conversion. Installing a geothermal system would cost the commonwealth $500,000 — more than a clean wood system like what currently heat both Ashfield and Charlemont’s elementary schools. It’s your money. Arguments about adverse air quality from these state-of-the-art wood heating systems are bogus and intended to scare us. University of Massachusetts Amherst found that particulate emissions from commercial wood pellet boilers (including Ashfield and Charlemont) were not significantly greater than from conventional boilers. Further research is being conducted to determine the toxicity of these emissions. Emissions from modern wood heating systems (given a clean bill of health in Europe) are projected to be deemed irritants, a stark contrast to fossil fuel emissions which are known to be carcinogenic. We must use common sense to combat climate change. Wood is good. RAWSEP View: Williams Mullen may be a lobbyist for biomass (wood) burning industry with regard to lowering of Particulate Matter of 2.5 micrometer size (PM2.5). Wood burning emissions, both industrial and residential are 90% PM2.5, and the Environmental Protection Agency will lower PM2.5 safe limits hopefully to 8 micrograms per meter cubed annual and 25 micrograms per meter cubed daily, announced by August 2023, according to the article Williams Mullen law firm online article below, about the Environmental Protection Agency’s environmental rulemaking in 2023. Williams Mullen is a regionally based, full-service law firm with more than 240 attorneys in offices across North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Williams Mullen is the third largest firm in Virginia based on attorney headcount. Williams Mullen is a full-service corporate law firm with a state and federal government relations practice. Its practice groups include corporate law, and litigation. In addition, the firm offers more specialized practices, including environmental law. EPA’s Big Plans for 2023: Top Air Rulemakings We Are Watching – JD Supra JD Supra RAWSEP View: The article below shows the alarm of the wood burning industry, among other polluting industries at the E P A’s plans to curb PM2.5 pollution. Reconsideration of the Particulate Matter (“PM”) National Ambient Air … EPA proposes to lower the existing PM 2.5 NAAQS Annual Standard from … Excerpts edited by RAWSEP for brevity and clarity. The top potentially impactful rules and sleepers we are tracking in the air world this year. In early January, EPA projected an aggressive rulemaking agenda for 2023. EPA plans to promulgate a substantial number of Clean Air Act rules as part of its plans. Our watch-list is as follows: Reconsideration of the Particulate Matter (“PM”) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (“NAAQS”) (2023: Proposed / Final Rules expected): proposes to lower the existing PM 2.5 NAAQS Annual Standard from 12.0 ug/m3 (current) to either 9.0 ug/m3 or 10.0 ug/m3. EPA does not plan to modify the 24-hour primary or secondary PM 2.5 standard. EPA has printed maps of at-risk areas that may become nonattainment for the new standard. EPA also released a list of current ambient concentrations based on monitoring data. A lower PM 2.5 annual standard will impact all industry sectors. The comment period for the proposed rule ended on March 28, 2023. EPA projects the final rule to be released in August of this year. Potential impacts (on the Biomass (wood) burning industry and residential wood burning): A lower PM NAAQS standard will impact economic development. A lower PM NAAQS will make it harder to “pass” ambient modeling, which is essential to pursue a project permit. Most new manufacturing facilities must undertake ambient modelling to obtain an air permit. Major facility expansions and projects will also require modeling if they trigger Prevention of Significant Deterioration (“PSD”) significance thresholds. New power generation assets will be more difficult to build and site, especially in urban areas that may have a larger power demand. Grid reliability may be impacted as fossil fuel-fired units retire; yet new generation is more difficult and time-consuming to build. The 2023 Sleeper to watch: Section 111(d) Implementation Rule (2023: Proposed / Final Rules expected): The implementation rule changes the requirements for how Section 111(d) rules for existing sources are implemented. All future Section 111(d) rules will follow these rules. Although the rule masquerades as a procedural rule, EPA’s December proposal presents new elements that are likely to affect the outcome of these important rulemakings. EPA proposes new requirements that states must undertake and put in their implementation plans, such as meaningful public engagement and source-specific requirements if “remaining useful life” and “other factors” are invoked. The proposal shortens states’ time frames to submit state plans yet adds more state development and plan requirements and heightens the standard necessary for plan approval. If states cannot submit an approval plan in time, then EPA can submit a federal plan, essentially subsuming states’ roles in Section 111(d) implementation process. EPA expects to finalize the rule in spring 2023. Potential impacts: The implementation rule will impact all future Section 111(d) rules for all sectors. Presently, EPA is using Section 111(d) to carry out its greenhouse gas agenda. Power sector greenhouse gas rules are next on EPA’s agenda. If the implementation rule is finalized as proposed, the Section 111(d) cooperative federalism process is in jeopardy. In addition, sources with unique circumstances will be less likely to have the opportunity to use “remaining useful life” and “other factors” to demonstrate that a less stringent emissions guideline should be applied on a source-specific basis. Fall 2022 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions Reconsideration of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter, 88 Fed. Reg. 5558 (Jan. 27, 2023) (PM NAAQS Reconsideration) Maps regarding the PM NAAQS Reconsideration Lists of ambient monitoring levels regarding the PM NAAQS Reconsideration Amendments to the NSPS for GHG Emissions From New, Modified & Reconstructed Stationary Sources: EGUs in the Fall Unified Agenda, RIN 2060-AV09 Emission Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Fossil Fuel-Fired Existing Electric Generating Units in the Fall Unified Agenda, RIN 2060-AV10 Adoption and Submittal of State Plans for Designated Facilities: Implementing Regulations Under Clean Air Act Section 111(d), 87 Fed. Reg. 79176 (Dec. 23, 2022) |