The city of Philadelphia passed a city-wide law to monitor the release of smoke from stacks, chimneys, and flues
This law provided a gradient of smoke colors that are released and the severity. The Bureau of Boiler Inspectors regulated the emissions; if the smoke was beyond a certain shade of grey, it was pronounced illegal. Discharge of non-compliant smoke would require punishment. This piece of legislation was evidence of Philadelphia’s residents’ concern with the quality of their city’s air. Although this law did not sprout immediate wide concern about the air that citizens breathe, it reveals the environmental consciousness of the city before national action was taken. Limitations on harmful smoke emissions show encouragement of healthy air, therefore a safer world for humans, animals, and plants to live in. Minimal regulations like these sprout from curiosity in the subject. Air quality interest also leads to research on the impact of air pollution on life, as well as ways in which it can be limited further. Many more technical and more restricting legislation was to come for industries and residents of Philadelphia.
Delaware Citizens for Clean Air (later the Clean Air Council) established.
Very active in air pollution discussion of Philadelphia. Fights for education and governmental change on outdoor/indoor air pollution, energy, transportation, waste treatment, environmental health, and climate change.
Air Management Services established an air monitoring network around Philadelphia.
This act proved the seriousness in Philadelphia’s concern with the well-being of their breathing environment. Testing of air quality in different spots of the city began to occur, revealing the most environmentally hazardous regions of Philadelphia. In addition, companies were required to complete surveys on the processes in which they act. The data collected by this network could be used to pinpoint the most harmful companies and industries. Besides testing air quality and researching where the air quality damage produces, a main intension of this action was to reduce the particulate matter, SO2, and hydrocarbon released into the atmosphere. Air quality control was enforced by “inspectors” who sued individuals and organizations that were not compliant with the regulations in place.
Clean Air Council created the FIRST air quality index for the Delaware Valley Region
Became the standard for EPA air pollution reporting. Enables people to see Philadelphia's current air quality conditions and forecast, with levels assigned as good, moderate, unhealthy for sensitive groups, and unhealthy.
Changed the definition of a “new source” coal mine, for the EPA’s New Source Performance Standards. The new source status changed from date of production to date proposed. The amendment to the NSPS allowed the emission standards to reach more companies and sources of air pollution.
Pennsylvania v. Delaware Valley Citizen’s Council for Clean Air
Now called the Clean Air Council, the Citizen’s Council for Clean Air fought the state of Pennsylvania for not having an emissions inspection program for automobiles, which is a necessity under the Clean Air Act. This lawsuit brought emissions testing to Pennsylvania and established the Clean Air Council as a powerful organization in Pennsylvania.
The case was filed against a wastewater treatment plant in Philadelphia was not meeting the standards set in the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the Clean Air Act. Post-trial, the EPA removed odor standards from the SIP. Philadelphia supported this decision. This deletion was found illegal and odor standards were reinstated. The wastewater treatment plant was expected to modify its processes to prevent odorous and unsafe emissions. The city had a hard time making improvements, paying more than $60,000 in fines to the Court for not following the contract. The improvements have been made and the sewage treatment plant is currently running.
Pennsylvania submitted a change to its State Implementation Plan for the Clean Air Act, which had fewer requirements than the initial plan, so there were fewer changes to be made. The state backed this plan by showing new concentration measurements established with lower ozone levels than required by the Clean Air Act. The EPA denied this new data as a relevant argument. The court ruled in favor of the EPA, because the EPA has “the authority to require a state to show that its attained reductions are maintainable and enforceable and to withhold SIP approval if maintenance of the standard cannot be assured.” One-time compliance does not mean sustainability of compliance.
Pennsylvania Clean Vehicles Program was implemented, modeling off of California standards.
Cars sold in Pennsylvania are required to produce fewer pollutant emissions. Higher standards for automobile emissions lead to lower rates of air pollution. The transportation industry is being targeted as a significant source of air pollution.
An Air Quality Improvement Fund is established from collections of the Air Management Services organization
36 years after the Air Management Services put in place the network of air monitors throughout Philadelphia, the money received from incompliant companies and air polluters was collected in order to fund city-wide tasks to assist in bettering the quality of the air and to enforce air quality standards. Not only does this fund produce advancements in air quality, but it also encourages the compliance to the requirements in place by the Air Management Services. During this time, enforcement of environmental health is much stricter than ever before, and progress has been made. Dramatic reduction in emissions of harmful air pollutant occurred from 1966 to 1996 (SO2 reduced by 94%). The development of additions and modifications of previously made legislations are a trend for the activity towards better air quality control and environmentalism at this time. The intentions of the initial laws are the same but with more intensity as research builds up the severity of the problem.
An inter-agency management group established an advanced open space plan for Philadelphia. Based on established goals and working groups that studied stormwater, economic development, health, and the environment, each part of the plan is based off of a universal Sustainability Framework. Nearly 1 million trees are to be planted around the city; in 2028 30% of Philly regions should be covered by tree life. Some of the many benefits of these trees are to “reduce [air] pollution, store carbon, reduce building energy usage by creating shade, increase property value, reduce stormwater runoff, and even reduce crime” (DCNR PA); in addition to adding trees, the plan includes the establishment of more trails and parks. Proposed are also areas that can be embellished with solar panels and green walls to reduce energy consumption and encourage sustainability. A plan such as this shows interest in environmental sustainability in the city of Philadelphia. If put into action as planned, the community, environment and economy of the Philadelphia would benefit.
Requires DEP to report the potential impact of climate change on PA with:"scientific predictions regarding changes in temperature and precipitation in Pennsylvania; potential impact of climate change on human health, the economy and other sectors; and economic opportunities created by potential need for alternative sources of energy and climate related technologies"
SEPTA locomotive gets $1.2 million air pollution upgrade
Through EPA Diesel Emissions Reductions Act. 80% reduction NOx and PM emissions, 25% reduction in CO2. Only one of the 6 engines that are used by SEPTA upgraded.
State of the Air 2014 Report fails Philadelphia for Ozone and annual PM
The Philadelphia-Reading-Camden metro area has overall increased in scores for short term and long term particulate emissions, but has declined in ratings of ozone pollution.
50 orange days for ozone, 7 orange days for PM
Installation of The Village Green Station in National Historical Park, Philadelphia
Along with Washington, D.C., Oklahoma City, Kansas City, and Hartford, the city of Philadelphia set up an air quality monitoring station in a public park. From a grant offered by the EPA, this station doubles as a park bench, made from recycled milk containers. The station is solar powered; sensors and monitors produce real-time measurements of particulate matter and ozone in the ambient air, in addition to levels of humidity, temperature and wind speed. The measurements are sent through a cellular modem to be checked for validity, and displayed on the Village Green Project website. This community addition draws attention to air quality control and its connections to local weather. Local students, professionals, and community groups can educate themselves about these connections and use the data to study air quality and local pollution, and their links to weather, climate change, and environmental health. This valuable addition to the Philadelphia will gather support and awareness for environmental issues, especially air quality control. Research done by citizens has and will produce changes in environmental policy. The new Village Green station is a potential leverage point to better air pollution governance in the city of Philadelphia. In a study of the first VGP bench, the levels of PM and ozone proved to closely resemble the measurements of these two pollutants at neighboring air monitoring stations. The EPA has developed a list of components of a Village Green Station for the potential construction of stations in different locations; more specific instructions are expected to follow. A small bench highlighting problems in the atmosphere may produce a change in locals’ thinking about their welfare and their city’s future.
A citizen run nonprofit organization is currently suing the biggest international steel company for an incompliant coke plant bordering Pittsburg. This plant, the Monessen Coke Plant, has been emitting odorous and harmful pollutants into the air. The organization is suing for going over Clean Air Act limits, running the plant with broken control equipment, and not using monitoring effluents properly.
/pdfs/History_012013.pdf
/pdfs/History_012013.pdf
volume-raw%5D/20283/pennsylvania-citi
zens-coalition-v-epa
case=1400760332852773921&q=Pennsylv
ania+v.+Delaware+Valley+Citizens%27+C
ouncil+for+Clean+Air&hl=en&as_sdt=6,33&
as_vis=1
http://www.pilcop.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bridesburg_85.
pdf
_volume-raw%5D/21049/pennsylvania-v-
epa
portal/server.pt/community/a
utomobiles/21813/clean_vehi
cles_program/1829984
/pdfs/History_012013.pdf
ts/detail/greenplanphiladelphia/114
http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/cs/
groups/public/documents/docum
ent/d_001331.pdf
portal/server.pt/community/bur
eau_of_air_quality/14528/clima
te_change/2120895
greenliving/SEPTA-locomotive-gets-12-million-air-pollution-upgrade.html
50 orange days for ozone, 7 orange days for PM
2014/states/pennsylvania/
philadelphia-42101.html?referrer
=http://theasthmafiles
2015.wikispaces.com/
%27State%20of%20the%
20Air%202014%20report%
20finds%20Phila.%20pollut
ion%20levels%20improved
%20to%20best-ever%20but%20ozone%
20levels%20worsened
32 orange days for ozone, 6 orange days for PM
2015/states/pennsylvania/
philadelphia.html
Particulate matter is the problem in the winter.
pt/community/search_articles/14292
pt/community/search_articles/14292
(Earth Day)
admpress.nsf/0/90B6242598
515F4685257E2E0066AD96
Ozone is the problem in the summer.
pt/community/search_articles/14292
pt/community/search_articles/14292
/pennsylvania/2015/08/28/clean
-air-council-sues-sunoco-over-mariner-e
ast-2-pipeline-plan/
pt/community/search_articles/14292
pt/community/search_articles/14292
pt/community/search_articles/14292
pt/community/search_articles/14292
.org/news/pae/pennenvironment
-files-lawsuit-against-worlds-lar
gest-steel-company-over-illegal-air