This morning a dozen students in classy uniforms and just as many parents gathered around a new installation at Harriet Tubman Leadership Academy on North Flint Ave: a white trailer outfitted with jars, tubes and computers designed to figure out exactly what Portland’s students are breathing.
- Gregg Lande breathing easy in the new air testing site
Last month I reported on parents in NW Portland who demanded changes from the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) after learning that six Portland’s schools ranked in the worst percentile nationwide for air toxins. Those rankings were just based on mathematical models, though. Now Portland will find out exactly how much manganese, benzene and other toxic chemicals we’re breathing—and whether we should be worried. The site at Tubman and another testing station near an industrial area in Toldeo, OR, will be up for 60 days as part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) nationwide effort to measure air toxicity at schools.
After the brief press conference at the site, parents involved with PDX AIR grilled DEQ representative Gregg Lande. Ringleader Mary Peveto asked what the DEQ is going to do about the two “hotspot” toxic air sites models identified in Portland. “Should parents be worried about their kids breathing the air in those areas?” asked Peveto.
“I don’t think they should,” replied Lande, stressing that this air testing is a first step toward figuring out whether Portland’s air is really as bad as the statistician models say it is. “It’s important that we get more accurate measurements.” While the EPA recommended they place the air testing station near an industrial site, Lande’s team chose to put the station at Tubman school which (unlike Jefferson High School or Chapman) isn’t near any heavy industry. Deflecting parents’ skepticism, Lande explained that the DEQ wants to test the air quality near I-5, which runs just past the small school.
Don’t know where Toldeo, Or, is, but I do know where Toledo, Or is.
I live near an elementary school that is near a freeway, and personally I’m very interested in the results. How much Benzene am I breathing!? And, why do we have to wait so long for the changes Wyden passed to take effect?!
something to keep in mind . . . one reason that our city ranks poorly for air toxics (relative to other cities) is that we have conducted more testing. in other words, many cities are in the dark regarding their air quality.
in addition to specific chemical risk you also need to take into account risk from particulates. a couple of articles to check out.
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es9012…
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es9013…
I’m glad DEQ is taking a big picture approach. While I don’t mean to bad mouth Mary Peveto, (she is doing a great job at what she wants to accomplish,) her target is ESCO, a steel mill in NW Portland, not air quality Portland wide. If you look at the model of air quality problems from industrial sources in this city, (the very map she uses to justify looking at ESCO,) the school she is worried has significantly better air than some of the schools in N Portland near St Johns, (the model doesn’t consider freeways, just point sources.) Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean that Chapman is safe, (at all!) just that if you look on a city or statewide basis, DEQ should be worried about bigger problems than Chapman, and among other things, they should also be worried about things that the model doesn’t cover, like I-5…
And just to be honest about my motives as well: I live near Clarendon, which is the 4th worst. (Chapman is 9th.)