Today, on Blog Action Day, at least fifteen thousand bloggers around the world have united to put one very important issue on our front burner - the environment. I thought I'd use the occasion to discuss the Lehigh Valley's dirty little secret - its air.According to The American Lung Association's 2007 "State of the Air" report, Lehigh and Northampton Counties both get Fs for high ozone days and particle pollution.
This is nothing new. According to an older Scorecard report, Northampton County ranks among the top ten per cent of the dirtiest counties nationwide. Our biggest polluters?
RELIANT ENERGY PORTLAND POWER PLANT, MFS INC. (Bethlehem), PPL (Martins Creek), KEYSTONE CEMENT CO. (Bath), and ESSROC CEMENT CORP. (Nazareth). They released about 5.2 million pounds of pollutants into our air, streams and grounds in the course of just one year.
But when it comes to our air, we do it to ourselves. It's a slow death caused mostly by our own driving. We can't blame it on Big Business. We're killing our own children and elderly.
Yet we continue to sprawl, creating a demand for more roads and shopping centers disguised as quaint little village shops. People will drive forty miles to "promenade" in suburbia. Long range plans call for Route 22, which bisects the Lehigh Valley, to be expanded from four to eight lanes. That will exacerbate the problem, creating a situation called "induced travel."
The American Lung Association recommends some steps we can take to help minimize the problem. These include checking the LV's daily air quality level. You can do this yourself right here. In addition, instead of driving, it's suggested we hop on a bus from time to time. LANTA board member Peter Schweyer may resent the inconvenience of waiting behind a bus along Hamilton Street, but should recognize that most cities actually encourage commuters to use mass transportation.
Why don't we come up for air?
