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EPA Region 4 now monitoring for air toxics at 12 schools in the Southeast
Release Date: 10/01/2009
Contact Information: Dawn Harris-Young, (404) 562-8421, [email protected]
School Air Toxics Monitoring Program samples air at 14 schools in the Southeast. Initial data for four schools released today.
(Atlanta, GA – Oct. 1, 2009) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 4 announced today that it is now sampling the air outside 12 schools in the Southeast that were selected as part of EPA's Schools Air Toxics Monitoring Initiative.
The initiative, which is monitoring the air outside 63 schools in 22 states, is designed to help EPA and the state and local air pollution programs evaluate whether long-term exposure to toxics in the outdoor air might pose health concerns for children and staff at the schools. Outdoor air at each of the schools is being monitored for at least 60 days, and air quality monitors will take a minimum of 10 samples during these sampling periods. EPA will use the information gathered in the initiative to help determine next steps, which could include additional monitoring or enforcement action where appropriate. Monitoring concluded in June at two schools in Tennessee and those reports have been posted to the EPA website https://www.epa.gov/schoolair/schools.html.
Preliminary air toxics monitoring data from four additional schools were posted on the EPA's Web site today. The schools are Lewis Elementary, North Birmingham Elementary, Tarrant Elementary, and the Riggins School, all in Jefferson County, Alabama. The data are posted at https://www.epa.gov/schoolair/schools.html.
The key pollutants of concern at these schools are:
- arsenic, emitted from some industrial processes,
benzene, emitted from burning coal and oil, motor vehicle exhaust, and evaporation from gasoline service stations, and found in industrial solvents,
benzo(a)pyrene, formed during the incomplete burning of coal, oil and gas, garbage, or other organic substances like tobacco or charbroiled meat, and
lead, which comes from human activities including burning fossil fuels, mining, and manufacturing.
EPA has been regulating the emissions of acrolein from industrial facilities and vehicles since 1990. The agency already has seen reductions in acrolein emissions and expects to see more reductions in the future, as rules such as the mobile source air toxics and heavy duty highway vehicle rules are fully phased in.
Once monitoring is complete, the full set of results from the schools will be analyzed to evaluate the potential for health concerns related to long-term exposure to these pollutants. EPA will post these analyses to the Web.
Other schools where the air has or will be monitored in the Southeast include the Crabbe, Hatcher, and Charles Russell Schools in Ashland, Ky.; Enterprise High School in Enterprise, Miss.; Chicora Elementary School in North Charleston, S.C.; and in Tenn., Ashland City Elementary School in Ashland City, West Greene High School in Mosheim, Lakeview Elementary in New Johnsonville, and Vonore Elementary and Middle schools in Vonore.
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