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| Phil Armstrong (front) and Lamont McClure |
Lehigh Valley Breathes was introduced by Executives Phil Armstrong (Lehigh) and Lamont McClure (Northampton), as a bi-county project to install 40 air monitors throughout the Lehigh Valley. They are designed to measure tiny particulate matter called PM2.5. These are fine inhalable particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. They come from emissions of gasoline, oil, diesel fuel and burning wood. Due to their small size, they bypass the nose and throat and penetrate the lungs and even the circulatory system.
PM2.5 is linked to numerous adverse health consequences, including premature death in persons with lung and heart disease; nonfatal heart attacks; aggravated asthma; irregular heartbeat; decreased lung function; and increased respiratory systems.
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| Dr. Holland displays purple air monitor, which is white |
The Lehigh Valley has two air monitors located in East Allentown and Freemansburg. Holland stated that Lehigh Valley Breathes will install 40 purple air monitors near highways and newer sources of pollution, including warehouses with heavy truck traffic.
Over a year ago, Northampton County Council and Lehigh County Commissioners appropriated over $100,000 for this project. Andrea Wittchen of iSpring, explained that the past year has been spent in calibrating the monitors and developing the technology to enable real time reports on the web.
Each monitor cost $295, which amounts to $11,800 for all 40. The rest of the money appropriated by both counties is being used for calibration, development of technology, website and administration. Wittchen said her company would be paid around $35,000.
In addition to the 40 monitors purchased by the counties, Lehigh University added 5 more. Dr. Holland mentioned at one point that she purchased two herself.
Both McClure and Armstrong stressed that the program will be driven by data, not emotion. "We all have to get on board with this," said Armstrong. "We all live here." He added that both counties are working together because "we both share this air. We all share this air. Let's make sure it's breathable air."
Lehigh Valley residents who think they live in high pollution areas can volunteer to have these monitors installed outside their home or business, provided there is electricity and WiFi. Those who are interested can contact LVBreathes@gmail.com. An interactive map identifies possible areas of air pollution with grey circles.
ShinyApp will enable you to see realtime data on the various stations. At this time, eight stations are operating.
The data will be collected for a full year through all four seasons. After that, a report will be issued to both counties and to the public, including possible recommendations to municipal governments. "Nothing's in concrete yet because we don't have any data," noted McClure.
25 comments:
I'm a little leery at seeing a political science professor at the forefront of this project. Are there no chemists at Lehigh University?
Can we do an Executive transfer with Lehigh County. Phil is one of the nicest guys as opposed to...
Hard to be against fresh air. Nonetheless, this is a ridiculous white people vanity expenditure in two counties with homeless veterans on the streets. But if you're going to continue to ignore them, these initiatives are very hip and help you forget about the dirty homeless for a while. This calls for a large tax increase - of course.
$100k allocated. Actual cost, $11,800. And they need volunteers to host more than half of the sensors. Sounds like a government project.
I hope the place these sensors all around Bethlehem Landfill. Then they can prove landfill air is safer than Allentown air.
Steps should be taken to insure none of the monitors are placed near Lynch or Zinski's residences. That air is so foul that the device will automatically explode.
If the counties recognize the concerns with local air quality why did they allow huge truck depots?
So what is the point of this study? To scare away businesses and employees from relocating here? To highlight the shitty quality of life in the valley and drive down property values? What will be the woke solutions by our left leaning local officials? To ban the sale of gas vehicles in the valley? To ban gas stoves and oil heat? To ban future warehouse development? That is actually not a bad idea. But we can already do that without an invasive study that makes the valley look like Chernobyl. These officials forget that government only exists on the backs of taxpayers, including businesses that will not relocate here with the bad publicity this study will create.
After reading the comments on this thread, and others on this blog, it really shows that people here are against anything good McClure proposes or does. It's amazing that anyone would be against finding out the air quality in which they live. I guess you don't mind yourself and your children being exposed to pollution and the exponential rise in asthma and other respiratory conditions. You don't want a better quality of life regarding pollution, decreasing traffic and warehouse proliferation, and you are against fiscally responsible initiatives and providing county employees incentives to enjoy their employment and want to stay. The majority here are condescending, contrary, and obstinate. Clearly there is nothing that McClure can do that would make the readers here happy, even after lowing their taxes. And yet, I bet these people are the same who supported Lynch. As if Lynch would've done one beneficial thing for any of us. It truly is amazing to log in here everyday and read these comments, and certainly not in a good way.
PS- I wonder if any of the nay sayers here checked for radon in their basements.
Last commenter was Chicken Little.
So true in every sense
Funny, I grew up in Bethlehem in the 50's and 60's when the blast furnaces were spewing visible pollutants 24/7. We were outside playing for hours and slept with windows open and fans pushing polluted air in our rooms all night. There was no EPA enforcement.I am 73 and have never had asthma, COPD or any lung problems . Yet today's woke boogey-man climate warriors feel compelled to add to our environmental anxiety. They need a cause to exert power over our lives.
Put one at the LANTA terminal, and another at the transfer station in Allentown
So the cost is 35K split between the 2 counties I guess? That doesn't seem unreasonable to me, but we already know that the air here is not great. Between us being in a valley, and the proliferation of truck traffic on top of the factory output we already have, my guess is the air here is pretty bad.
One commenter did point out that the professor is a political science professor, which does strike me as strange. She's no more knowledgeable about the issue than me.
Lastly, that pic of McClure shows that he should be on the bike with you Bernie, clean air is the least of his worries. You should encourage him to take ride with you.
Thank you for your post. I am beginning to think the only people who reply to common sense posts are a bunch of contrarians.
2:11, Yes, Breena Holland is not a scientist. You are correct. But as you acknowledge, we know the air quality here is bad. The purpose of the study is to determine specifically where it is bad and then make recommendations to municipalities who write the SALDO and zoning ordinances. Will it help? It can't hurt. This is for those who follow us, not us.
I predict the results will be not be good as all of us with breathing issues already know..the valley is a petri dish of all kinds of floating irritants and unhealthy crap. The real question then is..WTF can be done to alleviate the unclean air we are forced to breathe? My pediction on that question is..nothing! Economic development means everything and the people be damned!
A half dozen or more of those 800,000 square foot warehouses with a few thousand trucks and you won’t need air monitors, you’ll need masks again .
11:14, nice PR, good job.
A political science prof connected to a pro harp player is a bombastic duo that are wasting money. Another bullshit way to get nothing done.
Breena barely has a degree worth the paper her diploma is printed upon. It’s one step above a woman’s studies or racial studies degree. She and Wittchen have no cred.
Much ado about a serious local issue? Collect data and then what? Form a bi-county board to study the data and make suggestions..to whom? LVEDC? State EPA? US EPA? To what end? We know the problem first hand and our lungs bear testament to the crap in our air. Saldo laws and zoning laws will never stop greedy developers anyway.
Waste of taxpayer dollars better spent elsewhere.
8>26, We certainly know that air quality here is bad. But where is the pollution coming from>? It's no longer Bethlehem Steel. So there are 40 monitors for multiple collection points . There were only 8 in service on Wednesday and still are only 8 in service now, so they need to get their asses in gear.
The data is not used to form a bi-county bureaucracy, but to make recommendations to local municipalities for changers to SALDO and zoning ordinances. These municipalities have actually been making changes to combat warehouse development, like assessing impact fees by neighboring municipalities, so you're wrong to suggest they will do nothing.
Time will tell but the in progress foot dragging is telltale. We differ on the end game here but past bi-county efforts are what they are..politically expedient and great pr at the onset. I remain skeptical until proven wrong.
"Lehigh Valley residents who think they live in high pollution areas can volunteer to have these monitors installed outside their home or business..."
No room for monkey business here!
"Will it help? It can't hurt. This is for those who follow us, not us."
I'm not sure this holds water, B.O. Is the current generation suffering from the poor air quality generated by Beth Steel? Sounds like some good ol' virtue signaling to me.
With any human activity, there will be negative impacts. How much of our current standard of living are we willing to sacrifice? Are we willing to continue to offshore our emissions to Asia? There is a bigger picture here that we always seem to ignore. When it comes down to it, we are not willing to pay more or give up any of the creature comforts we currently enjoy.
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