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Hey, Governor Pataki - you may be out of the hospital and giving press conferences - but take this in: NY State has the grossest air in the country - the country! The EPA says that 68 out of every million New Yorkers is at risk for getting cancer just from breathing the air (the second dirtiest air state, California, has 66 per million residents at risk). Something that made Gothamist feel marginally better was that Oregon was the third worst-air-quality state, which proves that Pacific Northwest living ain't all that perhaps, and DC and NJ rounded out the worst five. Oh, and that the emissions data (per the AP, the report measured "heavy metals, such as lead; volatile chemicals, such as benzene; combustion byproducts, such as acrolein; and solvents, including perchloroethylene and methylene chloride") was from 1999 - which is the latest emissions data the EPA has. Poor EPA, if only the government was behind it. But maybe this will just drive a trend of people wearing air maks - it's all the rage in avian flu countries!
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Just a clarification: 68 out of every million New Yorkers is at risk for getting cancer from breathing the air. I'd imagine a much higher number of people would be at risk for cancer in general.
i read once that breathing the air in new york city is like smoking three packs of cigarettes. so, really, what's a fourth?
www.scorecard.org lists the biggest polluters in the city (by zip code), what they emit, its causes and even lets ya writalettah. (Ya, even though all our crap is made in China now you'd be surprised at the smokestack action while we sleep!)
Warning though: The results of one of my ex UES zip left me so haunted that soon afterward I moved to a hood that is so much less cancery!
Superfancy,
You are a moron. Scorecard does not list polluters by zip code. It's listed by county. You get the same result for New York County (Manhattan) whether you enter 10128 (UES) or 10003 (Greenwich Village).
If you've ever taken a ride on the Staten Island Ferry you can see how Manhattan pretty much sits under a permanent brown pall. In the winter it's there a good proportion of the time, but in the summer it's there every day. I have photos from 1986 of the skyline that show that as recently as that we still had blue.
Just another reason we need less cars, more electric rail/buses, more biking and more freight rail in NYC. A good start would be congestion pricing all those cars...
New York state needs better smog laws. In other states if you see a car with visible emissions you can easily report them online. NYC is the "capital of the world" but it sure is behind a lot of other places in terms of forward-thinking legislation.
Agreed. Less cars and more public transportation!!! (And by the way, as someone currently living in the Pacific Northwest ... I would agree that "Pacific Northwest living ain't all that."
The EPA fact sheet (http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/nata1999/natafinalfact.html) has some interesting tidbits.
- currently one in three Americans get cancer. The added risk of contracting cancer from air toxics is less than 1%.
- The most significant air toxic is benzene, which contributes a quarter of the increased cancer risk. Most benzene emissions comes from cars, planes, trains, and fires of all sorts.
- The study did not look at effects of diesel exhaust because of a lack of data.
The Times reported yesterday (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/health/21soot.html) on a study that showed there is a direct relationship between reducing airborne soot concentrations and death rates from cardiovascular disease, respiratory illness and lung cancer.
This stuff just seems to stick to my poor dog. I was her every few days now and it's really disturbing to see how much comes out every time.
The WCBS summary left out several important points mentioned in the EPA study. One-third of all Americans will get cancer of all types. Air toxics increase that risk by less than one percent. Regulations currently in place are projected to reduce certain toxics (like benzene, which contributes a quarter of the increased risk) by more than 50% over the next 15 years.
Perhaps more dangerous than toxics is plain old soot. The Times reported yesterday on a study that showed there is a direct relationship between reducing soot levels and reducing death rates from cardiovascular disease, respitory illness and lung cancer.
more electric rail/buses
Where do you think electricity comes from? Most of the electricity in the city comes from burning coal.
more freight rail
What powers freight locomotives? Diesel.
Something is being burned somewhere.
Does the report mention how much of this filth is carried from the coal-burning plants in the midwest?
"Where do you think electricity comes from? Most of the electricity in the city comes from burning coal."
Yep, and that’s how it’s going to be for a while. (Unless you want to embrace full blown nuclear power). But it’s still several times more economical and efficient then any car or plane.
Public transportation is the way to go.
ha ha NY# 1 and LA #2......live this one down! Boo--ya!
I always wondered about the black soot you got at the end of that day after walking around the city all day! I KNEW it!
Haha... Don't worry poster #4 you'll still find some rubes to broker your overpriced UES rathole condos to!
(Here are the top polluters ranked in order via scorecard for those concerned -- the fright list):
http://tinyurl.com/hqjnf