The only thing wrong with Cleveland, he says, is the attitude of some of its residents - "Hot", isn't that!

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Wed, 06/16/2010 - 11:32.

On June 3, 2010, I reported on realNEO "our air around Northeast Ohio has been unhealthy by most standards every day for the past week, and is never nearly healthy enough" and asked "why the hell was air quality in Cleveland and so Northeast Ohio, the region, the state and the world so "UNHEALTHY" last night, while we slept, and why is it so unhealthy RIGHT NOW - and HOW UNHEALTHY really, where, as indicated above?"

The diagrams above and below are actually from today - June 16, 2010 - two weeks later. In checking the same pollution monitoring service of NOACA to see current pollution conditions, I find our regional pollution control house of cards has completely collapsed, with NOACA "near real time" pollution monitoring systems (which should be data driven and perfect) still reporting we had "SEVERE" levels of MP2.5 pollution in Northeast Ohio over the past 24 hours (see line and rose charts at bottom of diagram below) - for many hours reading over 300, leading up to these charts - yet NOACA posting an "OFFICIAL" explanation that "NOTICE:  The PM2.5 monitors are experiencing difficulty this week. Data shown is incorrect. Local air agencies are working with the monitors. In addition, high humidity is being reflected. We appreciate your patience."

In that case, were the MP2.5 monitors experiencing difficulty the week of Memorial Day, when they also reported such severe conditions (in which case they have been broken for long over a week), and who is responsible for that?

I find this situation especially insulting and disgraceful as the man in charge of the poor environment in Cleveland, Mayor Frank Jackson (the city owns and operates our pollution monitors) has been quoted saying the only problem with Cleveland is that the citizens are depressed, aping what was quoted in the Cleveland Plain Dealer today as the official PD-PositivelyCleveland-Forest City Enterprises take on our chronic condition... "The only thing wrong with Cleveland, he (Neil Mohney of Forest City Enterprises) says, is the attitude of some of its residents. "It's our defeatist attitude that we have to change. If we don't change it now, we might as well turn the lights off and say goodnight to the city."

"The only thing wrong with Cleveland is the attitude of some of its residents"?!?!

Scientists and doctors very much disagree. On June 7, 2010, I posted "Identifiable effects on public health which may be expected from the presence of a pollutant in ambient air, e.g. Heart Attacks", reporting:

you are certainly being harmed greatly by the high levels of PM clearly released into the air in Northeast Ohio, especially near major roadways and coal burning facilities that are source points, like Mittal and MCCO. For example: "Epidemiologic studies that examined the effect of PM 2.5 on cardiovascular emergency department (ED) visits and hospital admissions reported consistent positive associations (predominantly for ischemic heart disease [IHD] and congestive heart failure [CHF]), with the majority of studies reporting increases ranging from 0.5 to 3.4% per 10 μg/m3 increase in PM 2.5".

As I've long written on realNEO, Northeast Ohio has a pollution crisis and does a poor job or monitoring our pollution, putting citizens' lives in danger. How much in danger is the subject of this lengthy EPA analysis. In short, you are certainly being harmed greatly by the high levels of PM clearly released into the air in Northeast Ohio, especially near major roadways and coal burning facilities that are source points, like Mittal and MCCO. For example: "Epidemiologic studies that examined the effect of PM 2.5 on cardiovascular emergency department (ED) visits and hospital admissions reported consistent positive associations (predominantly for ischemic heart disease [IHD] and congestive heart failure [CHF]), with the majority of studies reporting increases ranging from 0.5 to 3.4% per 10 μg/m3 increase in PM 2.5".

On June 3, 2010, I reported: "those living near and downwind of the St. Theodus monitoring station were exposed to PM2.5 levels reading as high as 317.5 - nearly 6 times the ambient standard 24 hour concentration of 65 ug per cubic meter Primary and Secondary...  more than 21X the annual mean standard... and who knows if that was even a peak measurement."

What were those people exposed to by our leaders today, when these monitors reported equally hazardous pollution levels... yet claim the monitoring equipment is broken, THIS WEEK.

Do you believe your problems with Cleveland are all in your mind?

Here is what expensive hardware had to say about what was actually harming your brain on Memorial Day... "HOT, isn't that:

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Excellent Header - conveys important info

Excellent Masthead Norm. 

The prime banner real estate on every newspaper and website should be used daily to inform readers - as Realneo's banner/header masthead tries to do.   

Thanks Norm for your efforts today.

best, jeff b

I just spoke to the Sierra Club about the information conveyed

I just spoke to the Sierra Club about the information conveyed, and asked them to contact the EPA in Washington DC. I suggest other realNEO readers contact their favorite environmental representatives outside Northeast Ohio about this mess, as well - go global.

Help from outside Northeast Ohio is on its way.

Disrupt IT

The only thing wrong with Cleveland,

is the greed of its wealthiest residents and the corruption of its "leaders".

so Air Products is making their fucked up sounds again

and I've had respiratory issues for over two weeks (or has it been three - I've lost count)....

and the monitor down the street from our house - ST_THEODOS - CLEVELAND reads almost off the charts...

gee, is there a connection?

 

please tell me what is PM 2.5 (UG/M3)?

"Particulate Matter" matters

From the EPA Particulate Matter Home page:

"Particulate matter," also known as particle pollution or PM, is a complex mixture of extremely small particles and liquid droplets. Particle pollution is made up of a number of components, including acids (such as nitrates and sulfates), organic chemicals, metals, and soil or dust particles.

The size of particles is directly linked to their potential for causing health problems. EPA is concerned about particles that are 10 micrometers in diameter or smaller because those are the particles that generally pass through the throat and nose and enter the lungs. Once inhaled, these particles can affect the heart and lungs and cause serious health effects. EPA groups particle pollution into two categories:

  • "Inhalable coarse particles," such as those found near roadways and dusty industries, are larger than 2.5 micrometers and smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter.
  • "Fine particles," such as those found in smoke and haze, are 2.5 micrometers in diameter and smaller. These particles can be directly emitted from sources such as forest fires, or they can form when gases emitted from power plants, industries and automobiles react in the air.

From the EPA Particulate Matter Standards page:

EPA revised the air quality standards for particle pollution in 2006. The 2006 standards tighten the 24-hour fine particle standard from the current level of 65 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) to 35 µg/m3, and retain the current annual fine particle standard at 15 µg/m3.

Disrupt IT

thank you

thank you, Norm...

Matt Carroll, City of Cleveland Health Director

Matt Carroll, City of Cleveland Director of Health, was pro-active and commented last July on Realneo about the re-instrumentation of the Broadway air quality monitoring station. It would be interesting to hear from Mr. Carroll why this new monitoring equipment supplied and installed by the US Dept of Environmental Protection (I met the installers) is not providing accurate readings.  My understanding is that the Feds supply the funds for the local City Health Department to man the site.    This fiscal arrangement  would seem to make  air quality monitoring vulnerable to local politics and influence - I would rather have the Man on the Moon in charge of data collection at the various Cuyahoga County air quality monitoring sites.   Jimmy Dimora agrees with me on this....