BETHLEHEM, Pa. — New federal standards for soot pollution mean officials behind the Lehigh Valley’s year-long, $100,000 monitoring project aren’t working to improve air quality alone.
“While the LV Breathes project is focused on a very specific subset of fine PM emissions — mobile sources from the transportation sector — the new standards will apply to fine PM emissions from all the various sources,” according to the April project update, posted online.
“ … Together, our small project will add an increment of improvement to the broader problem of PM 2.5 pollution in the Valley.”
A year-long project, Lehigh Valley Breathes aims to monitor air quality amid emissions from the region’s prolific trucking and warehousing industry. As part of the effort, 40 PurpleAir monitors are slated to be installed; so far, 26 of the 33 monitors installed appear on the Shiny App, the project’s online dashboard.
In February, more than six months into the air monitoring project, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized new, stronger standards for fine particle pollution, also called soot or PM 2.5, nationwide.
While monitoring continues, Lehigh Valley Breathes officials used the most recent project update to explain the new EPA standards and how they could impact it.
“Our PurpleAir monitors have been busy collecting data over the last month,” officials said. “As we build a larger and larger database, the analysis becomes more complex.”
Identifying ‘hotspots’
Federal officials on Feb. 7 announced new air quality standards, dropping the acceptable level of PM 2.5 in the air from 12 micrograms per cubic meter to nine. The previous standard was established more than a decade ago, in 2012.
PM 2.5 are particles so small that they’re invisible to the naked eye, but are made up of a mix of chemicals that can get deep into the lungs and can cause health problems. They are measured in micrograms per cubic meter, or µg/m3.
“Based on the most recent scientific evidence, technical information, and recommendations from the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) and its particulate matter expert panel, the EPA estimates that the new standard will prevent up to 4,500 premature deaths, and 290,000 lost workdays for a net health benefit of up to $46 billion in 2032,” officials said.
In addition to shining a federal spotlight on air quality issues, the new standards also focus on understanding of how PM 2.5 affects marginalized sub-populations, something the officials behind Lehigh Valley Breathes are keen to study and improve.
Without the geographic specificity of the LV Breathes project, it is currently impossible to tell where, or even if, such hotspots exist.Lehigh Valley Breathes, April 2024 update
“If LV Breathes can identify ‘hotspots’ in the Valley that show higher levels of PM 2.5 readings and if those can be correlated to marginalized sub-populations, policies can be developed that would preclude the creation near those populations of more facilities that might be likely to attract vehicles that would produce high levels of PM 2.5,” according to the update. “Without the geographic specificity of the LV Breathes project, it is currently impossible to tell where, or even if, such hotspots exist.
“And the new air quality standards will bolster the requirement that PM 2.5 levels be more protective not only of marginalized communities but also of those in our more health-sensitive population, including children, the elderly, the immunocompromised and those who are most affected by poor air quality.”
So far, preliminary data collected through the project has shown fine particle pollution is highest near warehouses and highways.
Concentrations at monitoring sites near warehouses and highways have recorded 9.7 and 7.8 µg/m3, respectively, data shows. The World Health Organization recommends the annual average concentration of PM 2.5 should not exceed 5 µg/m3.
For more information, visit the Lehigh County or Northampton County website for Lehigh Valley Breathes.
