Effect of S-SE wind

1

• Overview of County
• Topography
• Watersheds
• Open Space
• Urban areas
• Commercial areas
• Towns and villages

2
Impact of Woodbine Train Yard on Local Levels of
Black Carbon

• James Ross, Steven Chillrud, Ph.D
• LDEO of Columbia University
• Steven White, SVCC

3
Research partnership - LDEO and SVCC

• LDEO interest Local v Regional source of air
  pollutants, esp. traffic and diesel in NYC
• NIEHS CBPR Grant to MSPH, LDEO WEACT included
  mechanism for small pilot studies on community
  group concerns
• SVCC Concerned about exhaust and noise from
  Woodbine train yard at night
• Small scale study was possible and could answer
  questions of SVCC

4
US EPA Diesel Exhaust in the United States

• Diesel exhaust contains tiny particles known as
  fine particulate matter. These tiny or fine
  particles are so small that several thousand of
  them could fit in the period at the end of this
  sentence. Diesel engines are one of the largest
  sources of fine particulate matter, other than
  natural causes such as forest fires.
• Fine particles in the air are a serious public
  health problem. They pose a significant health
  risk because they can pass through the nose and
  throat and become lodged in the lungs. Fine
  particles can cause lung damage and premature
  death. They can also aggravate respiratory
  conditions such as asthma and bronchitis. Diesel
  exhaust is likely to cause cancer in humans.
• Nationwide, particulate matter, and especially
  the fine particles such as those in diesel
  exhaust cause 15,000 premature deaths every year.
• People with existing heart or lung disease,
  asthma or other respiratory problems are most
  sensitive to the health effects of fine
  particles, as are children and the elderly.
• In general, children are more sensitive to air
  pollution because they breathe 50 percent more
  air per pound of body weight than do adults.
• http//www.epa.gov/NE/eco/diesel/assets/pdfs/Diese
  l_Factsheet_Schoolbus.pdf

5
Aethalometer and Black Carbon

• BC is combustion product, major component of
  diesel particulate matter.
• Associated with acute and chronic health effects
  but no health based standards
• Optical measurement
• Good agreement among units
• 1-minute data
• Units inside homes, sample outdoor air, deployed
  three weeks in May 2006

6
Goals

• Determine whether there are significant levels of
  exhaust reaching homes when residents say idling
  occurs.
• Relate Black Carbon levels to wind patterns.
• Assess impact of yard in context of regional air
  quality.

7
Aethalometer Reproducibility
8
Hourly average of nights with trains
9
Time series 1
10
Time series 2
11
Time series 3
12
Spring Valley - Woodbine train yard

• 10 diesel trains housed each night
• Residential/mixed area - gt 5000 within 500 m
• 3 sampling locations around yard 70 m SE, 70 m
  NW, 200 m NE
• Control site 2000 m NW

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Effect of S-SE wind 5/12/06
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Effect of W-NW wind 5/21 - 5/22/06
15
Elevated BC due to trains
5/10/06 - 6/1/06 n Out of Percent
Total nights 22
Train nights (resident) 17 22 77
Elevated site (BC) 17 17 100
Non-train nights (res.) 5 22 23
Elevated site (BC) 2 5 40
Elevated average BC at one site gt 2 times
that of another, 10 pm - 7 am Ross and Chillrud,
unpublished data
16
Ramapo vs. New York
Hourly average BC
South wind
North wind
17
Conclusions

• Obvious BC signal from Woodbine Yard at night.
• Confirmed residents perceptions that diesel
  emissions were reaching their homes.
• Typical hours of activity midnight - 7 am.

18
NYS DEC What is Environmental Justice?

• Environmental justice efforts focus on improving
  the environment in under served communities,
  specifically minority and low-income communities,
  and addressing disproportionate adverse
  environmental impacts that may exist in those
  communities.
• Environmental justice is defined by the United
  States Environmental Protection Agency as the
  fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all
  people regardless of race, color, national
  origin, or income with respect to the
  development, implementation, and enforcement of
  environmental laws, regulations, and policies.
• Fair treatment means that no group of people,
  including a racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic
  group, should bear a disproportionate share of
  the negative environmental consequences resulting
  from industrial, municipal, and commercial
  operations or the execution of federal, state,
  local, and tribal programs and policies.
• http//www.dec.state.ny.us/website/ej/whatisej

19
5754 people live within 500 yards of the Woodbine
Train Depot
20
"Air board targets rail yards' idling
threatsThe Los Angeles Times     (02/04/06)    
Marla Cone http//www.latimes.com/news/local/la-m
e-trains4feb04,0,7937938.story

• Last week, California's South Coast Air Quality
  Management District (AQMD) unanimously adopted
  two rules designed to protect people living near
  rail yards from train exhaust fumes. The rules
  will prohibit unattended trains in Southern
  California from idling more than half an hour and
  will require railroads to keep records on idling
  trains. The AQMD has received hundreds of
  complaints from neighbors about exhaust fumes
  coming from idling trains in recent years. The
  exhaust contains fine soot particles and gases
  that have been linked to lung cancer, asthma, and
  other diseases. Representatives of the four
  railroad companies affected by the new regional
  rules said the new rules were not needed because
  the companies were already working with the state
  to comply with a voluntary agreement that would
  reduce train fumes. Last June, the state's Air
  Resources Board (ARB) made a deal with two of the
  four carriers in which the carriers voluntarily
  agreed to end "nonessential" idling after 60
  minutes. But AQMD Chairman William Burke said
  that agreement "simply does not go far enough to
  reduce emissions and protect public health,
  especially for those living near rail yards." The
  AQMD's rules will go into effect in August, but
  because of the ARB agreement, will likely be
  challenged in federal court.