You’d think that tougher standards for toxic pollution in the air we breathe would be an easy sell, especially here in Portland.
But Mary Peveto of Neighbors for Clean Air tells me there’s a lot of frustration after what people heard at last night’s meeting put on by Oregon DEQ.
DEQ is proposing new benchmarks for acceptable levels of three air pollutants – lead, manganese and ethyl benzene. New studies show these toxins are more dangerous than we thought. DEQ now says the levels of these pollutants that are considered okay need to be lowered.
Peveto and other critics say DEQ’s approach fails to look at pollution hot spots, places where toxins in our air can spike to high levels over short periods. Instead, DEQ looks at regional and statewide averages. But air quality can vary widely within a county. For example, people who live near freeways or industrial sites may worse air quality that people living in the suburbs.
In an e-mail to supporters, Peveto says concerns raised at the meeting were answered by comments that were more about process than substance.
She writes:
Last night, we saw that we still have work to do.
Specifically, we need to demand that our state take action to protect public health by addressing the short term exposures to dangerous pollution experienced by those who live in toxic hot spots. In a city which reveres its beloved “urban growth boundary” this is not an isolated issue of one neighborhood. In fact 63 schools rank in the top 10% of schools in the nation with the most dangerous air quality due to proximity to sources of dangerous industrial air pollution.
Peveto has posted a fuller version of what happened on her blog, PDXAIR.
Related Story:
A NW Portlander’s Fight For Clean Air
