A Change of Soot

Gothamist is happy that New Yorkers will soon be able to breath easier. The Times reports this morning that the Environmental Protection Agency has set new rules for regulating the emssions from diesel-powered "tractors, bulldozers, locomotives, barges and other nonroad vehicles". Together, these sources emit more soot than all the cars, trucks and buses combined. The new rules will reduce particulate and nitrous oxide emissions by 90 percent. The EPA estimates that controlling these emissions will prevent 12,000 premature deaths, 8,900 hospitalizations, and one million work days lost per year by the time the rules are fully implemented. Separate regulations to reduce pollution from trucks and buses were adopted in 1997. The MTA has been buying new clean-fuel buses, and retrofitting dirty old buses for several years.

The American Lung Assocation has graded New York's particulate pollution. Manhattan, the Bronx, and Queens all got an "F", while Brooklyn gets a "D". Staten Island, receiving a "C", has the fewest particulates of any borough and is only a ferry ride away.