environmental justice

Short Term Air Toxics Benchmarks

Posted April 4th, 2011 by Mary & filed under air toxics, DEQ, environmental justice, Environmental Quality Commission, Greenlick, Health Benchmarks, hotspots, Kitzhaber, manganese.

On June 30th 2010, when the public comment period closed for the state’s decision on new air toxics benchmarks for mercury, manganese and lead, Neighbors for Clean Air delivered over 500 signatures demanding DEQ address short term spikes in toxic air emissions from regulated polluters. Air Quality administrator, Andy Ginsburg met Neighbors for Clean Air… Read more »

EPA releases latest National Air Toxics Assessment

Posted March 15th, 2011 by Mary & filed under air toxics, DEQ, environmental justice, EPA NATA, Health Benchmarks, Multnomah County, PATSAC, Portland, Toxic Hot Spots.

Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency issued its latest data on air pollution called the National Air Toxics Assessment or NATA. NATA is designed to provide estimates of the risk of cancer and other serious health effects from breathing (inhaling) air toxics in order to inform both national and more localized efforts to identify and prioritize… Read more »

Portland Air Toxics Solution Advisory Committee Mtg #8 recap

Posted March 10th, 2011 by Mary & filed under air toxics, environmental justice, Environmental Quality Commission, Health Benchmarks, PATSAC, Toxic Hot Spots.

As the PATSAC process rounds the corner to its finish line stretch, the work of the committee is definitely getting more interesting. At the last two meetings, the quality of DEQ materials has been impressive, including the detailed PATS 2017 Pollutant Modeling Summary presented at the January 25th meeting, and from this last meeting, the… Read more »

Good Neighbor Agreement

Posted August 3rd, 2010 by Mary & filed under air toxics, citizen engagement, Citizen's Right-to-know, City of Portland, DEQ, environmental justice, Environmental Quality Commission, ESCO, industrial sanctuary, Mayor Adams, right to know, Title V air permit, Toxic Hot Spots, transparency.

Air pollution problems are inherently local, the worst of them manifesting in “Toxic Hot Spots.” Yet this is specifically the area where the Clean Air Act and the state regulatory framework has failed to protect citizens. If direct citizen negotiation is still considered the most effective means of addressing local toxic hot spots, citizens need stronger public advocates to work on their behalf. Portland should look to the spirit of what the Houston Mayor did, which was to say, the city is the best entity to look out for the equitable protection of all its citizens and should be creative in its ideas of how to engage on the issue.