Save The North Pole From Air Pollution!

by Moms Clean Air Force|Posted in: pollution|

Beautiful North Pole has bad air quality

This just in from the Alaska Dispatch:

Readings at a North Pole, Alaska, air quality monitor on Tuesday showed hazardous levels of particulate pollution. Those levels, according to Dermot Cole of the Fairbanks News-Miner, are up this week, leading to an “unhealthy” air quality forecast from the Fairbanks North Star Borough.

On Tuesday, temperatures in North Pole ranged from minus-19 F to minus-28 with little wind. Increasing winds on Wednesday were expected to drive the wind chill down to minus-55.

“Air quality in the borough is classified as very unhealthy and exceeds the EPA health limit for fine particulate pollution,” according to an alert from the National Weather Service. “People with respiratory or heart disease, the elderly, and children should avoid any outdoor activity. Everyone else should avoid prolonged exertion. The air quality is forecast to remain very unhealthy in North Pole.”

A North Pole air-quality monitor showed a reading of 267 micrograms per cubic meter at noon Tuesday. For a 24-hour stretch, readings exceeding 250 are considered hazardous.

Particle pollution consists of a mix of solid particles and liquid droplets in the air. Some particles, such as dust, dirt, soot, or smoke, are large or dark enough to be seen with the naked eye. Others can only be detected using an electron microscope.

The EPA terms “inhalable course particles” as those between 2.5 and 10 micrometers. By comparison, human hair is about 70 micrometers in diameter.

According to the EPA, “good air” contains fewer than 12 micrograms per cubic meter of particulate pollution averaged over a 24-hour period. But in North Pole and Fairbanks, an inversion — cold stagnant air trapped on the valley floor by warmer air above — magnifies pollution released from wood stoves, cars and oil furnaces.

In contrast to North Pole’s high readings, the highest reading in California on Monday was 47 micrograms per cubic meter, according to the News-Miner. The highest in Shanghai was 54.

ASK THE PRESIDENT TO GIVE US A PLAN FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Posted in: pollution|
  • Ernest Grolimund

    ASK THE PRESIDENT TO CONTROL SMALL SORCE POLLUTION FROM
    WOOD STOVES.
    Ask the President to control small source pollution from wood stoves. That is the problem in Alaska and all the northern states. In L.A., air pollution from fireplaces was found to put 4 times more pollution into the air than coal power plants, and air pollution in L.A. is not yet under control. It is not under control because hotspot pollution at moms houses is left untouched despite the intent of the Clean Air Act to keep pollution under standards "ANYWHERE". Monitors only pick up the lower overriding regional layer that you can't miss, But with stoves, hotspots exist with 50 mcg/m3 more pm2.5 on a 24 hour basis. The 25 mcg/m3 pm reported is really 75 mcg/m3 at houses next to stoves operating at full capacity and 50 mcg/m3 on average across communities as shown by mobile monitoring in NY and NH.