Breathe Easy Berkshires is monitoring the air in Pittsfield for particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide. These are pollutants that come from traffic emissions, power plants, and other sources present in our community. They are known to contribute to and cause increased symptoms for people with heart and lung issues.
What are criteria pollutants?
The Clean Air Act requires EPA to set National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for six common air pollutants (also known as “criteria air pollutants”). The list includes particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, lead, and sulfur dioxide. These pollutants are found all over the U.S. They can harm your health and the environment, and cause property damage.
Select a pollutant below to learn more about it.
Where does air pollution come from?
The majority of emissions that create lower air quality come from the burning of various fuels by industry and vehicles.
Nitrogen dioxide is released into the atmosphere with the burning of diesel and gasoline, among other fuels. The resulting smoke is orange to brown, and it’s the main ingredient in the infamous smog that has been known to cover the sky in California.
Sulfuric fossil fuels release sulfur dioxide in the form of blue smoke with a strong, irritating odor.
Carbon monoxide comes from burning fossil fuels in unventilated areas, causing buildups that can be deadly.
Particulate can be released into the air by burning wood, including forest fires and bonfires, construction dust, crop-dusting fields with manure, or even the reactions that occur between existing chemicals in the air with heat and moisture.
It seems daunting because pollution seems to come from everywhere when you take a closer look. But, the existence of things that cause poor air quality isn’t the end of the story.
We have the responsibility to start taking notes. Breathe Easy Berkshires is looking for where in Pittsfield the nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter are coming from, where it goes, and who it reaches. Once we get a decent collection of data, both from our monitors and from people who live here telling us what they see, we can move forward as a community to address what might be making the air worse than we all deserve to breathe.
How is air pollution regulated?
The United States has a dense history of issues arising, being documented, and then being acted upon. Regulation of air pollution started in the 1950s. There had been a number of tragedies worldwide involving deaths due to unbreathable air, and President Truman called a conference on air pollution consisting of over 500 industry experts. What they discussed in that meeting led to the first regulations for air in the United States.
In 1955, the The Federal Air Pollution Control Act provided funding for baseline scientific research in the realm of air issues. In 1962, there was an amendment to The Federal Air Pollution Control Act that gave funding to the U.S. Surgeon General to investigate the health effects caused by automobile exhaust.
In 1963, they came up with the Clean Air Act.
$95 million was allocated to the study and cleanup of air and water pollution. The act gave the federal government the authority to reduce interstate air pollution, regulate emission standards for stationary pollution sources, and invest in technologies to remove sulfur from coal and oil.
An update in 1967 allowed for expanded studies of pollutant emission inventories, ambient monitoring techniques, and methods of control.
In 1970, the seven years of research they had put in finally resulted in a plan that would genuinely address concerns. This was a major shift in the federal government’s role in air pollution control. Thie legislation authorized the development of comprehensive federal and state regulations to limit emissions from both stationary (industrial) and mobile (automotive) sources. Four major regulatory programs came about from this.
The National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)
United States Environmental Protection Agency
All states were to set and achieve these standards for 6 criteria pollutants by 1975
The State Implementation Plans (SIPS)
Were required of all states to outline to the appropriate industrial sources how
these standards were to be achieved
The New Source Performance Standards (NSPS)
Ordered that the best demonstrated emission control technologies were installed as
industrial infrastructure was modernized
National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs)
Delineated acceptable levels of emissions for all industry productions
Amendments were made in 1977 and again in 1990 to set new goal dates for achieving NAAQS since many areas of the country failed to meet original deadlines.
These are the air regulation plans the United States still follows today. There have been updates over the years as to what levels of what pollutants are acceptable, what various industrial businesses need to do to reduce emissions, and hopefully over time those numbers will continue to get more strict.
To see specific numbers for the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, select a pollutant above.