[Texgreen] Austin air unhealthy for travel

[Roger Baker]

[They just happened to study Austin, but what about Houston and other  
big cities? -- Roger]

<http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc- 
ctcleanair0301.artmar01,0,1738610.story?coll=hc-headlines-local>

CONNECTICUT NEWS
Clean Air Study Alarms Officials
Task Force Finds Commuters Inhaling Too Much Diesel Exhaust
March 1, 2007
By GARY LIBOW, Courant Staff Writer

State transportation and environmental protection officials reacted  
with concern Wednesday to a Clean Air Task Force study that concluded  
that commuters cannot escape exposure to sickening diesel exhaust  
whether traveling by car, bus, train, ferry or foot.

Those who inhale diesel exhaust daily on commutes to work or school  
are more likely to be stricken with cancer, strokes or cardiovascular  
diseases, according to the study.

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Despite spending an average of just 6 percent of their day commuting,  
humans get 60 percent of their daily intake of harmful exhausts while  
traveling, according to the study, which looked at commuters in  
Boston, New York, Austin, Texas, and Columbus, Ohio.

The study found that those commuting by car, train or bus inhaled  
diesel exhaust particles four to eight times more than those  
traveling in the ambient outdoor air.

"It's clearly an issue that needs to be addressed," said state  
transit administrator Mike Sanders.

The Clean Air Task Force stressed that diesel pollution can be  
reduced by 90 percent if cleaner fuels and state-of-the-art emissions  
controls are utilized.

Sanders said that by 2010, 340 of the 600 buses in the state fleet  
will be retrofitted with emissions filters that will block some of  
the harmful exhaust. He estimates it will cost between $5,000 to  
$8,000 to retrofit each bus.

DEP Commissioner Gina McCarthy said her agency has taken "strong  
steps" to reduce diesel emissions since 2000.

McCarthy said DEP last week announced funding to retrofit all of the  
111 school buses used to transport Bridgeport students, and earlier  
this month forged a pact between the Connecticut Resources Recovery  
Authority and Hartford to retrofit equipment and trucks used for  
garbage pickup in the city.

"These projects represent real progress in the battle to clean up our  
air," McCarthy said.

State Sen. Donald J. DeFronzo, D-New Britain, co-chairman of the  
General Assembly's transportation committee, said the state needs to  
do more to better protect commuters from harmful emissions.

"I don't think we have been aggressive enough," DeFronzo said. "We  
need to do more."

In the next few weeks, DeFronzo said, he expects Democratic  
legislators to propose a more comprehensive emissions plan for the  
state bus fleet.

Clean Air Task Force investigators also discovered diesel exhaust  
levels inside commuter trains in Boston and New York City to be  
"surprisingly high" in the passenger compartments.

Researchers found that when a diesel locomotive pulls passenger cars,  
the plume of exhaust from the engine invades the coaches. Pollution  
levels increased during the course of the train commute.

The news is not all bleak, the Boston-based environmental  
organization concluded.

For instance, EPA regulations effective this year require that new  
diesel trucks be sold with a diesel particulate filter that achieves  
a 90 percent reduction in particle emissions.

The task force advocates that:

States and local governments should clean up existing public fleets  
of transit and school buses, garbage trucks and other vehicles.

New York, for instance, requires that all state-owned or contracted  
fleets use the best available emission controls.

States should create diesel cleanup funds to retrofit existing dirty  
diesel fleets.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency needs to finalize its  
emission standards for new locomotives and ferries. When the engines  
of long-haul trucks are rebuilt, the EPA should require that owners  
install the best emissions controls available.

George D. Thurston, of the New York University School of Medicine,  
said it's critical to make retrofitting diesel engines on the road  
today with highly effective emissions controls "a public health  
priority."

"Solving the problem will require political will," Thurston said.  
"But as the [task force] investigation also helps illustrate, cleaner  
fuels and emissions control technologies that can reduce the  
emissions of this pollutions by up to 90 percent are here today."



Contact Gary Libow at glibow@courant.com.