- We earned our federal 501(c)(3) non-profit status on the first reading, a goal we had been working toward for quite some time.
- Our new program administrator Becky Taylor finished up her first year with us. We are thrilled with the outstanding job she did and are looking forward to the exciting things she has planned for 2010.
- We launched a new lunch and learn series in partnership with the Clean Air Partnership of Williamson County.
- We attended nearly 15 outreach events to educate people about the simple things they can do to improve our air quality.
- We launched our first official fund-raising campaign.
- We launched the CAP Blog, Facebook fan and Twitter pages.
- We registered with the Community Foundation of Middle TN and now have a Giving Matters profile, so donors have access to all the information they need.
4 Feb
CAP Releases Air Update 2009
25 Jan
EPA Strengthens Air Quality Standard for Nitrogen Dioxide
EPA says first new NO2 standard in 35 years will improve air quality for millions
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a new national air quality standard for nitrogen dioxide (NO2). This new one-hour standard will protect millions of Americans from peak short-term exposures, which primarily occur near major roads. Short-term exposures to NO2 have been linked to impaired lung function and increased respiratory infections, especially in people with asthma.
“This new one-hour standard is designed to protect the air we breathe and reduce health threats for millions of Americans. For the first time ever, we are working to prevent short-term exposures in high risk NO2 zones like urban communities and areas near roadways,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “Improving air quality is a top priority for this EPA. We’re moving into the clean, sustainable economy of the 21st century, defined by expanded innovation, stronger pollution standards and healthier communities.”
The agency set the new one-hour standard for NO2 at a level of 100 parts per billion (ppb). EPA also is retaining the existing annual average standard of 53 ppb. NO2 is formed from vehicle, power plant and other industrial emissions, and contributes to the formation of fine particle pollution and smog. Earlier this month, EPA proposed to tighten the nation’s smog standards to protect the health of all Americans, especially children.
EPA is establishing new monitoring requirements in urban areas that will measure NO2 levels around major roads and across the community. Monitors must be located near roadways in cities with at least 500,000 residents. Larger cities and areas with major roadways will have additional monitors. Community-wide monitoring will continue in cities with at least 1 million residents.
Working with the states, EPA will site at least 40 monitors in locations to help protect communities that are susceptible and vulnerable to elevated levels of NO2.
The new standard will help protect Americans from NO2 exposures linked to respiratory illnesses that lead to emergency room visits and hospital admissions, particularly in at-risk populations such as children, the elderly, and asthmatics.
EPA expects to identify or designate areas not meeting the new standard, based on the existing community-wide monitoring network, by January 2012. New monitors must begin operating no later than January 1, 2013. When three years of air quality data are available from the new monitoring network, EPA intends to redesignate areas as appropriate.
More information: http://www.epa.gov/air/nitrogenoxides
7 Jan
EPA Strengthens Ozone Standard
Proposed standards, strictest to date, will protect the health of all Americans, especially children
WASHINGTON – The United States Environmental Protection Agency today proposed the strictest health standards to date for smog. Smog, also known as ground-level ozone, is linked to a number of serious health problems, ranging from aggravation of asthma to increased risk of premature death in people with heart or lung disease. Ozone can even harm healthy people who work and play outdoors. The agency is proposing to replace the standards set by the previous administration, which many believe were not protective enough of human health.
“EPA is stepping up to protect Americans from one of the most persistent and widespread pollutants we face. Smog in the air we breathe poses a very serious health threat, especially to children and individuals suffering from asthma and lung disease. It dirties our air, clouds our cities, and drives up our health care costs across the country,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “Using the best science to strengthen these standards is a long overdue action that will help millions of Americans breathe easier and live healthier.”
The agency is proposing to set the “primary” standard, which protects public health, at a level between 0.060 and 0.070 parts per million (ppm) measured over eight hours. Children are at the greatest risk from ozone, because their lungs are still developing, they are most likely to be active outdoors, and they are more likely than adults to have asthma. Adults with asthma or other lung diseases, and older adults are also sensitive to ozone.
EPA is also proposing to set a separate “secondary” standard to protect the environment, especially plants and trees. This seasonal standard is designed to protect plants and trees from damage occurring from repeated ozone exposure, which can reduce tree growth, damage leaves, and increase susceptibility to disease.
In September 2009 Administrator Jackson announced that EPA would reconsider the existing ozone standards, set at 0.075 ppm in March 2008. As part of its reconsideration, EPA conducted a review of the science that guided the 2008 decision, including more than 1,700 scientific studies and public comments from the 2008 rulemaking process. EPA also reviewed the findings of the independent Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, which recommended standards in the ranges proposed today.
Depending on the level of the final standard, the proposal would yield health benefits between $13 billion and $100 billion. This proposal would help reduce premature deaths, aggravated asthma, bronchitis cases, hospital and emergency room visits and days when people miss work or school because of ozone-related symptoms. Estimated costs of implementing this proposal range from $19 billion to $90 billion.
Ground-level ozone forms when emissions from industrial facilities, power plants, landfills and motor vehicles react in the sun.
EPA will take public comment for 60 days after the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register. The agency will hold three public hearings on the proposal: Feb. 2, 2010 in Arlington, Va. and in Houston; and Feb. 4, 2010 in Sacramento.
More information: http://www.epa.gov/groundlevelozone
6 Jan
Cool People Care | Saving the World, Five Minutes at a Time | Information, Inspiration
Looking for some great tips on greening up your office in 2010? Check out this article by Cool People Care’s Sam Davidson.
Posted using ShareThis
29 Dec
Four Fast Electric Cars That Are Also Affordable
Interested in electric vehicles? Check out this article about some speedy versions soon to hit the street!
Four Fast Electric Cars That Are Also Affordable
Posted using ShareThis
17 Dec
We need your support!
Our program depends on local donations for a significant portion of its budget. Non-grant funds are necessary to leverage additional grant funding and to pay for small fees that grant funds typically don’t cover. Your help is vital for the Clean Air Partnership to continue its efforts.
Your contributions to the Clean Air Partnership help provide programs and services that educate individuals and businesses in Middle Tennessee about how to improve our region’s air quality. Specifically, your donation will be used to:
- Expand our education and outreach efforts further into our region, particularly during Air Alert season (April through September)
- Continue work in our local schools educating children on ways they can protect our air
- Cover small administrative costs that grants typically do not cover
- Expand our outreach to local businesses through our Employer Partner Program
The Clean Air Partnership of Middle Tennessee is a 501(c)(3) federal non-profit organization and is registered as a charity in the state of Tennessee. Donations are tax-deductible.
Please give what you can. We value and appreciate any and all donations. We also want to partner with your organization, school, or company to help make Middle Tennessee a better place to breathe.
Please take just one minute to view our movie! And, then if you believe like we do that all Middle Tennesseans deserve clean air, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Clean Air Partnership this year. We accept donations online or via snail mail at Clean Air Partnership, PO Box 92256, Nashville, TN 37209.
15 Dec
What do you think about enforcing HOV lanes?
I came across this article in the Washington Post today about police in Northern Virginia stepping up enforcement of the area’s HOV lanes. What do you think? Should the police enforce the carpool lanes in Middle Tennessee? What would our roadways look like if they did? And, why are more people not making legal use of the HOV lanes here by riding to work with neighbors, friends, or co-workers?
Police to monitor HOV lanes
By Martin Weil
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
In an effort to curb a practice that causes commuter frustration, police agencies in Northern Virginia will join forces Wednesday to ensure compliance with the HOV rules, authorities said.
Only last week, a state police HOV enforcement effort on Interstate 66 in Fairfax and Arlington counties resulted in driver receiving a ticket that carries a $1,000 fine, police said.
The $1,000 fine is imposed on fourth offenders of HOV laws. Earlier in the year, police had reported ticketing a four-time offender on a different road, but then said they had erred. However, on Thursday police said they had “double- and triple-checked,” and were confident a $1,000 ticket had been issued this time.
HOV enforcement will be stepped up Wednesday from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Interstates 66, 95 and 395, and the Dulles Toll Road. Virginia State Police will be joined inside the Capital Beltway by Arlington and Fairfax County officers and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority police, authorities said.
HOV lanes can save commuting time, and drivers who obey the rules have expressed frustration at those who do not.
HOV rules require at least three occupants on Interstates 95 and 395. For Interstate 66 and the toll road, the number is two, state police said. The first-offense fine, $125, doubles for successive offenses.
14 Dec
New Category of Geothermal Heat Pumps Can Now Earn Energy Star
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is announcing new requirements for residential geothermal heat pumps (GHPs), enabling water-to-water geothermal heat pumps to earn the Energy Star label for the first time. EPA’s stringent specifications for this new category of geothermal heat pumps will help protect the environment and reduce energy costs, because GHPs that meet the new standards will be up to 45 percent more efficient than conventional pumps.
Geothermal heat pumps use ground temperature air instead of outside air to provide heating, cooling and often water heating. GHPs can be installed in new and existing homes. Because they use the constant temperature of the earth, GHPs are among the most efficient heating and cooling technologies currently available in the marketplace.
EPA worked with industry stakeholders to revise the requirements in response to growing consumer demand for water-to-water geothermal heat pumps. Water-to-water geothermal heat pumps provide heating and cooling and/or water heating to a building using liquid rather than forced air. The new requirements for water-to-water equipment complements existing efficiency and performance requirements for water-to-air and direct geoexchange GHP models. Homeowners who install geothermal heat pumps with the Energy Star are eligible for a 30 percent federal tax credit.
More information on the heat pumps: http://www.energystar.gov/ghp
More information on the tax credit: http://www.energystar.gov/taxcredits
9 Dec
Washington Post Article: EPA is preparing to regulate emissions in Congress’s stead
By Steven Mufson and David A. Fahrenthold
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
The Obama administration moved closer Monday to issuing regulations on greenhouse gases, a step that would enable it to limit emissions across the economy even if Congress does not pass climate legislation.
The move, which coincided with the first day of the international climate summit in Copenhagen, seemed timed to reassure delegates there that the United States is committed to reducing its emissions even if domestic legislation remains bogged down. But it provoked condemnation from key Republicans and from U.S. business groups, which vowed to tie up any regulations in litigation.
In Monday’s much-anticipated announcement, the Environmental Protection Agency said that six gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, pose a danger to the environment and the health of Americans and that the agency would start drawing up regulations to reduce those emissions.
“These are reasonable, common-sense steps,” EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said, adding that they would protect the environment “without placing an undue burden on the businesses that make up the better part of our economy.” At the same time, however, EPA regulation is no one’s preferred outcome — not even the EPA’s. Jackson said her agency and other administration officials would still prefer if Congress acted before they did.
Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), a leading proponent of a Senate climate bill, issued a statement The EPA’s “endangerment finding” — a key bureaucratic step in the regulatory process — was seen as a message to Congress and Copenhagen, but it was also a belated response to an order from the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in April 2007 that carbon dioxide should be considered a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. As a result, the court said, the EPA had not only the power but the obligation to regulate the gas. (In that case, Massachusetts v. EPA, the Bush administration was fighting against regulating carbon dioxide from vehicle tailpipes.)
Michael Morris, chief executive of American Electric Power, a utility that is the nation’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, said Monday that “we have been a proponent . . . to a congressional approach to this undertaking. This is the most awkward way we could go about it.” The EPA had to comply with direction from the courts, Morris said, but “there are better approaches, more cost-effective approaches and more productive approaches.”
It remains unclear whether the EPA’s regulatory cudgel will spur Congress to take faster action on the climate legislation that is now mired in the Senate or whether it will provoke a backlash.
“The stick approach isn’t going to work. In fact, Congress may retaliate,” said Mark Helmke, a senior adviser to Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.). “They could stop the funding, and they could change the law.”
Anticipating EPA action, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) tried unsuccessfully in September to prevent the agency from spending money to regulate stationary sources of greenhouse gases, such as power plants or factories, for one year. Murkowski, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement Monday that the endangerment finding is “a blunt instrument that will severely hamper our attempts to bolster the economy and get Americans back to work.”
Some senators who environmental groups hope might vote for a climate bill also said they were unhappy. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) called the move “regrettable.” And Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said in a statement that she is concerned that the move “will create burdens on American industry without providing any significant environmental benefits.”
“I strongly urge EPA to wait for Congress to find a solution,” Lincoln said.
Earlier this year, the Obama administration took the first step toward complying with the Supreme Court’s 2007 ruling by requiring automakers to increase the fuel economy — and therefore decrease the carbon emissions — of new cars and trucks by 2016. The ailing automakers supported the accord.
Monday’s finding is another step toward compliance. “There are no more excuses for delay,” Jackson said. “This administration will not ignore science and the law any longer.”
Supporters of regulation note that the Clean Air Act has led to some of the great U.S. environmental success stories, producing significant drops in smog and soot. But greenhouse gases could prove far more difficult to fight. They don’t just come from smokestacks, but from millions of auto tailpipes, airplanes, ships, home furnaces and even the digestive tracts of cattle. And there is no simple piece of hardware that emitters can buy to keep the gases out of the air.
“There’s no catalytic converter. There’s no scrubber. There’s nothing,” said Jeffrey R. Holmstead, who headed the EPA’s air-pollution programs during the Bush administration and now works with the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani. Instead, solutions probably would include switching the fuels burned in power plants and, in the future, using machinery to capture emissions and store them underground.
The Clean Air Act set a low threshold for regulation that opponents argue would require rules for everything from laundries to office buildings, from cow farms to coal plants. But the EPA said it would impose new rules only on large factories, refineries, power plants and other facilities emitting more than 25,000 tons a year of carbon dioxide.
When these plants upgrade their facilities, or when new ones like them are built, they would be required to install the “best available control technology” for limiting greenhouse-gas emissions, while “taking into account costs.” In October, the EPA said there were 13,661 facilities that size; it estimated that every year 128 new facilities and 273 existing facilities seeking modifications would require new permits.
“What EPA can require is controls that are technically feasible and cost-effective,” said David Donziger, policy director of the climate center at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “With CO2 there is the chance to save money, which is rarer for other pollutants.”
Together, these large sources account for about half of all U.S. emissions, the EPA said. But it’s still unclear what, exactly, the “best available” technology should be. Jackson said the EPA is still working on that.
Although many business leaders have urged Congress to adopt climate legislation, some remain staunchly opposed. Those groups also condemned the EPA for moving forward with regulations.
“This action poses a threat to every American family and business if it leads to regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Such regulation would be intrusive, inefficient and excessively costly,” said Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, whose members have big oil refineries and petrochemical plants. “It is a decision that is clearly politically motivated to coincide with the start of the Copenhagen climate summit.”
2 Dec
CAP Needs 1 Minute of Your Time!
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” –Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss said it best! It takes effort from everyone to make an impact in our community. This is especially true when speaking of the air we breathe in Middle Tennessee. The numbers are in and the Nashville area is failing to meet federal standards for clean air. Did you know that the average adult breathes 3,400 gallons of air a day and children breathe one and a half to two times that much? And, according to Clear The Air TN, children also make up almost half the cases of asthma in the United States, a problem caused and sometimes worsened by air pollution.
The Clean Air Partnership (CAP) of Middle Tennessee, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is working to remedy this situation by educating local citizens on ways they can make a difference in their daily lives.
Please take just one minute to view our movie! And, if you care “a whole awful lot,” please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Clean Air Partnership this year. We accept donations online or via snail mail at Clean Air Partnership, PO Box 92256, Nashville, TN 37209.
We want to hear from you and there are several ways to reach us! You can learn more about us on the web at www.CleanAirPartnership.info. You can reach us daily at (615) 628-0254 to answer your questions about the organization or send us comments through this blog, our Facebook page, or Tweet us!
