Virginia Air Quality: Trends, Exposure, and Respiratory Health Impacts

Air quality is an important determinant of public health and quality of life. A secondary data analysis was carried out to investigate trends and air quality in Virginia. The analysis included an evaluation of two major air pollution source categories, emission of criteria and hazardous air pollutants, ambient concentrations of criteria pollutants, ozone standard violations and associated meteorology, and hospital admissions for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Virginia. Comparisons were also made to national trends and statistics. Data was gathered from many open reputable on-line sources available through various state and federal agencies. Virginia routinely meets 5 of the 6 criteria air pollutant ambient standards. Ozone does continue to represent a challenge for Virginia, as it does for many other states. Potential focus on further production and consumption of renewable energy, improvement in fuel efficiency among SUV’s and light trucks, reduction of the metals content in fuels burned by electric utilities, utilization of emissions inspections for automobiles, utilization of vapor recovery systems at gas stations, and continued emphasis on ozone precursors all have the potential to further improve air quality within Virginia. This is important because the very young and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of poor air quality. INTRODUCTION Poor air quality has long been associated with adverse human and ecological health impacts. For example, poor air quality led King Edward I in 1273 to prohibit the burning of coal due to noxious air emissions (Beck 2007). Although we have made significant progress in controlling air pollution in many developed countries today, concern still exists regarding the impact of air quality on health. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, several epidemiologic research studies showed that in the United States both particulate matter (Wilson and Spengler 1996) and ozone (Lippmann 1989) were associated with adverse human health effects at levels typical of that time. Additional * Corresponding author: [email protected] Virginia Journal of Science, Vol. 66, No. 3, 2015 http://digitalcommons.odu.edu/vjs/vol66/iss3 372 VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF SCIENCE studies were conducted and this body of research is now reflected in the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) Criteria Documents required under Title I of the Clean Air Act (USEPA 2014a; USEPA 2010). These Criteria Documents form the basis for the compliance levels set under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Today in the Unites States, the USEPA regulates ambient air quality through six NAAQS. The Criteria Air Pollutants regulated under Title I of the Clean Air Act are particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), oxides of sulfur (SOx), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and lead (Pb). The particulate matter standards include both particles under 10 microns in aerodynamic diameter (PM10) and particles under 2.5 microns in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5). Ambient levels of these Criteria Air Pollutants and other ambient air pollutants are measured continuously through several of USEPA’s extensive ambient air monitoring networks, including the State and Local Air Monitoring Stations (SLAMS), National Air Monitoring Stations (NAMS), Special Purpose Monitors (SPMS), and Photochemical Assessment Monitoring Stations (PAMS) (USEPA 2015a). In addition, emissions of the six criteria pollutants are tracked through the National Emissions Inventory (NEI). The USEPA utilizes state inventory data to compile the NEI on an annual basis and conducts a more comprehensive NEI review of the state inventories every three years. Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) are also regulated by the USEPA through several programs. One of these programs created by the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) Section 313 created the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) program and contains a list of roughly 650 chemical compounds, many of which are HAPs. HAPs, in addition to waste water and solid waste toxics, are tracked through the TRI (USEPA 2015b), which is a multi-media inventory system designed to fulfill requirements under EPCRA. Trends in the release of HAPs can be tracked by industrial sector and by geographic region through the TRI. In addition to the actual measurement of airborne concentrations of pollutants and an inventory of air pollution releases, significant sources of air pollution can be tracked through various databases. Two industrial sectors that are particularly important contributors to ambient air pollution are the energy sector and the mobile source (e.g. automobiles) sector. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) (www.eia.gov) is a semiautonomous agency within the US Department of Energy that tracks trends and makes projections of energy production and use in the United States and within individual states. Many state Department of Transportation (DOT) agencies carefully track mobile sources by compiling data on automobile and truck use throughout their state. Mobile source data such as the number of vehicles, total vehicle miles traveled, and fuel efficiency statistics of the motor vehicle fleet are compiled by most state DOTs and the EIA. This information can be used to assess the impact of these two important sectors on ambient air quality. We endeavored to utilize the information described above to investigate trends in important air pollution sources (energy and mobile sources), TRI data, NEI data, and ambient measurements made by SLAMS monitoring sites for the state of Virginia and explore potential contributors to human exposure and risks of chronic respiratory disease. Virginia Journal of Science, Vol. 66, No. 3, 2015 http://digitalcommons.odu.edu/vjs/vol66/iss3 VIRGINIA AIR QUALITY 373