Clean Air Board News

Members of the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania weren't surprised by a recent study conducted in the area by Penn State researchers.

Penn State College of Medicine researchers found that exposure to high levels of PM2.5 increases stress on the heart's regulation capacity well after the pollutants had been inhaled.

The last part of Pennsylvania's Diesel-Powered Motor Vehicle Idling Act will take effect Saturday, taking away the temporary exemption allowing long-haul trucks to idle during mandated rest periods.

The exemption was included in the law to give operators time to install battery-operated heaters or small onboard generators, so that they would not rely on engine idling for cabin heat or cooling. All trucks and buses will now be limited to five minutes of idling in any hour, unless equipped with a new cleaner engine with a California sticker.

The Harrisburg region has received another poor grade regarding air quality. The Harrisburg-Carlisle-Lebanon region ranks as the 22nd worst in the nation for short-term particle pollution in the American Lung Association's annual "State of the Air" report.

Although the area's air improved slightly, its ranking was slightly worse than in the previous report, when it ranked 24th worst. Particle pollution, known as soot, involves microscopic particles from sources such as cars and trucks, coal-fired power plants, construction sites and tilled fields. It can cause lung irritation for normal people and severe problems for people with lung conditions such as asthma, emphysema, bronchitis and heart disease.

Our word of the week is “foresight,” and we salute two local groups putting it to good use for their communities.

Meanwhile, Shippensburg University hosted a meeting Thursday night by the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania. CAB wants to expand its sphere of influence from the Carlisle area to all of Cumberland County.

Shippensburg faces the same air quality problems as Carlisle, according to Shippensburg University professor Tim Hawkins.

Although no one from Shippensburg's community-at-large turned out for the presentation, Hawkins and other officers of the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania offered up a primer on particulate matter to 100 SU students Thursday evening in the Old Main Chapel.

Holding true to its name, the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania is looking to expand beyond the Carlisle area.

On Thursday, the group will hold its monthly meeting at Shippensburg University in an effort to spark interest with potential members in that part of the county, said Tim Hawkins, associate professor of geography at the university and a CAB board member.

For members of the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania, the past decade has been about recognizing the health risks associated with being a transportation hub and secondly, doing something about it.

Formed in 2005, CAB came together to point out that the growth of the area's trucking terminals near Interstate 81 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike came at a cost.

Over 100 of the county's physicians signed a petition stating that there have been deteriorating health problems among area residents due to the poor air quality caused by increased truck traffic.

The biggest health news over the decade involved the sale of Carlisle Hospital to Health Management Associates early in the decade and the subsequent construction and opening of the new Carlisle Regional Medical Center in 2006.

Meanwhile, the Clean Air Board formed in 2005 after more than 100 area doctors took out a full-page ad in The Sentinel saying that truck traffic was a major contributor to unhealthy air quality in Cumberland County. The new group scored a victory last year when the state passed anti-idling legislation.

Cumberland County is one of the healthiest counties in the state, according to a new national report that ranks each state's counties.

The County Health Rankings, a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute was released Feb. 17 and lists Cumberland County as the ninth best in health outcomes — how long people live and how healthy people feel while alive.

A new policy in Carlisle will limit how long borough employees can let a borough vehicle idle its engine.

Approved unanimously by council Thursday night, the anti-idling policy puts to paper a policy borough officials and employees have already been following, said Borough Manager Steve Hietsch.

Excerpt: "I love living and raising my family in Carlisle. It is sad to me that the air is becoming toxic. To be among the top 2 percent of the most polluted counties in the nation is no honor.” — Pam Frohman, CAB member, homemaker and mother of three, said in 2006

Sometimes it takes just a little organization to change the landscape of things – even the air we breathe.

While Carlisle has seen air pollution levels rise multiple time into the orange levels — unhealthy for sensitive groups — over the past year, particle pollution has been relatively mild on average, according to one-year data recorded by the Met One BAM-1020 air quality monitor, housed at The Sentinel.

The EPA-certified monitor was unveiled last November at the newspaper's Carlisle office as part of the Clean Air Partnership between the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania, Carlisle Regional Medical Center and The Sentinel.

With much of the borough and surrounding area located between or straddling Interstate 81 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike — two highways that see high volumes of tractor-trailers — it's hard not to spot your fair share of trucks on a daily basis.

Realtors have their catchphrase “location … location … location…” to describe the importance geography plays in making the transaction.

It is a comparison George Pomeroy can draw when talking about Shippensburg University serving as a future host site for the Interstate 81 Corridor Coalition.

For members of the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania, the growth of the area's trucking terminals near Interstate 81 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike came at a cost.

In 2005, three-quarters of the county's physicians signed a petition stating that there have been deteriorating health problems among area residents due to the poor air quality caused by increased truck traffic.

CAB has applied for a grant from a private foundation to hire a facilitator to help with strategic planning, said Duane Fickeisen, its vice president.

A key question will be whether CAB should stay all volunteer or hire an executive director to handle administrative duties while the CAB board takes on mostly fundraising responsibility.

Head south on Interstate 81 from Cumberland County to the Maryland border and you will notice warehouses and truck terminals peppered alongside the highway.

There is more than 21,802,000 square feet of warehouse space in Cumberland County alone, with trucks traveling local roadways for drop-offs and pick-ups.

Carlisle-area residents can breathe a little easier knowing that, statistically, October tends to be the best month in terms of local air quality.

Autumn weather patterns produce conditions that lead to reduced concentrations of fine particulate matter in the air, a Shippensburg University professor has concluded.

Timothy Hawkins, an associate professor of geography and earth science, spoke on the relationship between weather and fine particulates at a Clean Air Board community meeting Thursday night. Particulate matter are particles of dust, dirt, soot, smoke and liquid droplets that can stay suspended in the air for long periods of time.

Borough council passed an ordinance Monday regulating outdoor burning. According to the ordinance, it is intended to promote the health, safety and welfare and to safeguard health, comfort, living conditions and property values by regulating outdoor and open burning.

The steel sheds that house outdoor furnaces look innocent enough. Most are fairly small structures with one door and a metal pipe protruding from the roof.

But proposed regulations governing the hydronic heaters used to heat many rural homes across Cumberland County are raising the temperatures of stove owners and putting some local officials on the hot seat.

Outdoor wood-burning furnaces have become more common, especially in rural areas in the last few years. According to statistics from the state Department of Environmental Protection, in 2005 there were 12,000 of the burners across the state. Since heating fuel prices have increased, more residents are buying the burners as a way to save on costs.

DEP officials have not completed an official count since 2005 but estimate there are probably close to 20,000 of the units statewide today.

Carlisle Victory Circle recently honored nine local students with scholarships to support them as they enter college for the first time or continue their college education.

For 15 years, CVC has worked closely with Carlisle Area School District and Dickinson College to help young people achieve success despite financial barriers.

Community efforts to clean up the air in the Carlisle area and around central Pennsylvania have drawn the attention of a Denver-based non-profit organization.

Dafna Michaelson, who is on a journey across America chronicling the tales of people helping to solve community problems, stopped by The Sentinel Thursday to interview original members of the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania.

Tractor-trailers line up for hook ups to the IdleAire system at the Petro Stopping Center. (Jason Malmont/The Sentinel)

Despite anti-idling legislation that has been in place for five months to impose idling limits statewide on large trucks, members of the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania say it's still too early to measure how our area has benefited.

The Sentinel and Shippensburg Sentinel won numerous awards in statewide newspaper competitions presented this weekend in Gettysburg.

The Sentinel earned the sweepstakes award in the annual Keystone Press Awards for the 15th time in the past 20 years and the second year in a row.

The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association presents its top honor to the papers that win the most individual awards in their circulation division. The Sentinel each year vies with more than 30 newspapers under 20,000 in size.

Staff — first, Online Journalistic Innovation, for “A Partnership for Public Health.”

Last fall, The Sentinel joined with the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania and Carlisle Regional Medical Center to purchase equipment to continuously monitor fine particulate matter in the air. Readings are available hourly, along with educational material and articles about air pollution and health, at The Sentinel's Web site, www.cumberlink.com . A daily average reading is published in the newspaper.

Excerpt (Video): "A new report card is out and our area gets a failing grade. The report, by the American Lung Association, rates air quality.

The Harrisburg area ranks 24th in the nation for short-term particle pollution. That pollution could lead to health problems, like asthma and bronchitis."

Excerpt: "Pennsylvania may be improving air quality to levels that protect the public’s health in most of the state, as a report released this week indicates, but local advocates say there remains much work to do.

A Department of Environmental Protection report concluded that Pennsylvania is reducing harmful pollutants and emissions such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, ground-level ozone, particulate matter and carbon monoxide, said DEP Secretary John Hanger."

Excerpt: "The Harrisburg region has received another poor ranking in the annual air pollution report card from the American Lung Association. The region including Harrisburg, Carlisle and Lebanon ranked 24th in the nation for its level of short-term particle pollution -- tiny particles that come from diesel exhaust and coal-burning power plants."

Excerpt: "Environmental Protection acting Secretary John Hanger today awarded grants to three regional air quality organizations to help the trucking industry comply with Pennsylvania’s anti-idling law, which took effect on Feb. 6."

Excerpt: "The local Clean Air Board could be getting a boost from a federal appeals court’s recent decision to push the Environmental Protection Agency to explain its acceptable air pollution levels."

Excerpt: "As of Friday, most trucks and buses are no longer allowed to sit with their engines running for more than five minutes out of every hour.

The enactment of statewide legislation was sweet and long-awaited news for members of the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania (CAB), which advocated such a bill for two years before it was passed in October 2008."

Excerpt: "If there was a grain of doubt remaining that air quality affects health, a study in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine should remove it: Clean air extends life."

Excerpt: "With area commerce increasing exposure to toxic chemicals, school and health officials say more community awareness of air pollution is needed."

Excerpt: "When the commonwealth first proposed expanding emissions inspections for automobiles from the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas to the Harrisburg region, many Central Pennsylvanians were aghast at the notion. They felt this semi-rural region had no problems with air pollution that they could observe and considered the proposal to be just another back-door means of raising revenue.

Today, it's hard to remember that local residents felt that way, given this region's growing reputation for declining air quality. This past week, the Environmental Protection Agency listed Cumberland County as not meeting federal air quality standards, along with neighboring Dauphin, York, Lancaster and Lebanon counties. Local officials will have to present a remediation plan to the EPA by 2012 to be implemented by 2014 under the law."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency formally designated Cumberland County Monday as a county not meeting federal air quality standards. Elected officials in the designated areas have to come up with a plan by 2012 to clean the air and then implement it by 2014.

A special USA Today report on air quality ranks Carlisle area schools near the bottom and is prompting the state to do tests of its own in other areas.

Excerpt: "Two months after announcing a one-of-a-kind air quality collaboration, the Clean Air Partnership of Cumberland County Wednesday unveiled its new EPA-certified air quality monitor at The Sentinel building in Carlisle."

Kevin Stewart of the American Lung Association, Jennifer McKenna of the Clean Air Board and local resident Mike Crochet discuss the impact of the region's declining air quality on health and new efforts to raise awareness of this serious issue.

Excerpt: "For years now, the skies over Carlisle have not met federal clean air requirements. Now, an environmental group is leading a new effort to help residents keep an eye on what they're breathing in.

The Clean Air Board announced a partnership with the Carlisle Regional Medical Center and the Sentinel Newspaper. They purchased an EPA-certified air monitor that measures the toxic particulate matter that comes from soot and diesel exhaust." - WGAL News8

Excerpt: "The state Environmental Quality Board Tuesday adopted a final regulation to limit idling by large diesel trucks and buses.

The regulation comes in response to a petition filed by the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania in October 2006. CAB's president, the Rev. Jennifer McKenna, thanked the board members for their action, noting, “We applaud this landmark action. We believe a sensible regulation limiting idling emissions from diesel vehicles will protect the health of all Pennsylvanians, particularly those who suffer from respiratory problems."

Excerpt: "A landmark approval sets the stage for statewide limits on pollution caused by idling truck and bus engines:

Members of a state Department of Environmental Protection board backed a regulation proposed by the 3-year-old Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania.

Clean Air asked for limits on diesel-engine idling after Carlisle-area physicians spotlighted the region's higher-than-average air pollution."

Excerpt: "To cool off inside his cab, Ken Kafer hooks up his rig to a contraption that looks like a giant exhaust pipe for a clothes dryer.

Besides air conditioning, the yellow hose funnels TV and even Internet connections through a window into his cab at a truck stop. The best part, Kafer says, is that he doesn't need to keep his diesel engine on.

So-called 'electrified truck stops,' along with on-board tools such as auxiliary power units, have drawn interest from some truckers in part to reduce pollution and engine grind from idling and abide by a growing number of anti-idling guidelines nationwide. But lately, drivers like Kafer have increasingly turned to them to also save money with fuel prices at record highs.

'I'm saving fuel, engine wear, and I'm getting all the comforts that I need,' said Kafer, 42, of Hubert, N.C., during a break at a truck stop in the central Pennsylvania town of Milton on a recent Iowa-to-New York run."

Excerpt: "Having lived downtown at 25-27 W. High St., Ellen Simon '09 was very familiar with the sounds and smells of heavy truck traffic in the area.

'I knew about the poor air quality in Carlisle and the steps that Carlisle residents and Dickinson College were taking to address the traffic flow through town,' she says. 'I was intrigued by the topic, so when I was presented with the opportunity to conduct fieldwork in Carlisle, I chose to investigate the trucking industry's impact on the downtown businesses and Carlisle's air.'"

Excerpt: "If you live in the midstate and worry about global warming, consider this: You are responsible for more carbon pollution than, say, a guy who lives in South Philly or Brooklyn.

That's the finding in a study of carbon emissions in the 100 largest metropolitan areas of the U.S. released today by the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution."

Excerpt: "We’re starting to get accustomed to bad news on the pollution front for the Harrisburg-Carlisle metropolitan area.

Studies have previously cited lower-than-average air quality in general and high particulate matter content in our local air. Now, there’s a new study from the Brookings Institution that ranks our region ninth among the metro areas with the highest carbon footprint."

Excerpt: "Lawmakers say central Pennsylvania’s air quality will improve if anti-idling legislation passed in the state Senate Wednesday is signed into law.

The bill, which was amended to include parts a similar bill drafted by Sen. Patricia Vance, R-31, would prohibit commercial vehicles from idling for more than five minutes in any hour. It heads to the state House for a vote."

Excerpt: "The bad ranking didn’t surprise them, because they have been seeing bad numbers of their own.

For Dr. Stephen Krebs of Carlisle Pediatrics, it was encountering and more children with asthma in the last few years."

Excerpt: "From the Second Presbyterian Church on Garland Drive in Carlisle, Cumberland County, the Rev. Jennifer McKenna can see, hear and smell the constant stream of 18-wheelers speeding by on Interstate 81.

The associate pastor also has seen members of her congregation and neighbors sickened by the sooty air pollution produced by the thousands of big diesel trucks that daily roll through and often stop to idle in her town, where the interstate and the Pennsylvania Turnpike cross paths."

"The public will have the opportunity to weigh in on a proposed statewide idling reduction regulation designed to improve air quality and save gallons of diesel fuel.

The American Lung Association lists the Harrisburg-Carlisle-Lebanon area as No. 14 in the nation among metropolitan areas 'most polluted by short-term particle pollution.'"

Excerpt: "It stands 7 feet tall and looks like a gangly tin scarecrow. But Airestotle’s mission is to measure, not to frighten.

Airestotle is a machine designed to sift the atmosphere for microscopic crud and measure how much there is.

The $15,000 gizmo was purchased by the Clean Air Board, a nonprofit group formed in 2005 by a group of about 100 physicians and a Unitarian Universalist Church concerned about air quality in the Carlisle/Harrisburg area. The board was helped with a grant from Keen Transport Inc., a construction equipment hauler based in New Kingstown."

Excerpt: "Clean Air Board President Jennifer McKenna says the acquisition of an air quality monitor will help her organization get its message out.

The new monitor is important, McKenna says, because of Carlisle’s current ranking as the 14th most polluted metropolitan area in the country on the American Lung Association’s 2007 list of best and worst cities for air quality."

Excerpt: "It's not rocket science to draw a connection between poor air quality in this region and the large trucking and warehousing industries.

A proposed regulation by the state Environmental Quality Board to control truck idling is a good step, both statewide and in central Pennsylvania.

Trucks could idle their engines for no more than five minutes out of every hour under the regulation, which does not need legislative approval but is subject to public hearings and scrutiny from the Independent Regulatory Review Commission."

Excerpt: "It’s almost considered quaint to think that citizens can move a state government to take action on an important issue, but the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania has done just that.

The organization, which came together in the Carlisle area over the issue of growing truck traffic and its effects on local health, has successfully petitioned the Environmental Quality Board of the state Department of Environmental Protection to consider restrictions on diesel truck idling."

October 17th, 2007: The Sentinel-News

Excerpt: "The state is pushing ahead with anti-idling regulation, thanks largely to the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania.

The new regulation advocated by the Clean Air Board that would limit the amount of time a diesel-powered commercial motor vehicle can idle its engine to no more than five minutes in a 60-minute period.

The rule — to be fully enacted in 2010 — will reduce annual emissions of nitrogen oxides by about 1,610 tons, volatile organic compounds by about 45 tons, and particulate matter by about 30 tons, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. The regulation is in the public comment phase."

Excerpt: "The two Democratic candidates competing for Cumberland County commissioner and other candidates campaigning for positions in area municipalities tried to establish their environmental credentials Tuesday night."

September 25th, 2007: The Sentinel-News

Bill Seeks to Reduce Idling Emissions

Excerpt: "A bill introduced in the state Senate last week seeks to improve the area’s air quality by restricting the amount of time tractor-trailers can sit idling.

The bill, proposed by state Sen. Patricia Vance, R-31, would forbid commercial diesel-engine vehicles from idling for more than five minutes per hour in many circumstances. Drivers often idle their truck engines when they aren’t driving to keep the power on in their cab."

September 11th, 2007: The Patriot-News

Excerpt: "Exercise is good for you, right? Yes, except for the part where you breathe.

Fine and ultrafine particles in the air measure as little as four-millionths of an inch, visible only with an electron microscope. They bypass the filter in your nose and settle in your lungs or migrate into your blood.

'What happens, especially if you're exercising, is there's a deposition of these particles,' Rundell said. 'The more particles, the more are deposited in the lungs. As you exercise, the deposition fraction goes up -- the amount of particulate that stays in the lung even after you exhale.'"

September 3rd, 2007: The Sentinel News

This Traffic Study Needs Green Light

Editorial

Excerpt: "Five influential bodies have joined in asking borough council to undertake a comprehensive traffic study - the Downtown Carlisle Association, the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania, the LeTort Regional Authority and the Redevelopment and Housing Authorities of Cumberland County and Dickinson College. Dickinson College is offering to put up as much as $50,000 so the borough can hire an engineering firm to do a comprehensive traffic study of the downtown and surrounding area."

Excerpt: "Four community groups which include the Downtown Carlisle Association, the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania, the LeTort Regional Authority and the Redevelopment and Housing Authorities of Cumberland County, have requested the borough council have a professional engineering firm conduct a comprehensive traffic study of downtown Carlisle and the surrounding area."

The large number of trucks going in and out of Carlisle, whether stopping for the night or heading to Interstate 81, has made Carlisle the third highest grossing interchange on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. “About 39 percent of vehicles from the Carlisle interchange are trucks,” DeFebo said. “Looking at all of the interchanges, it’s the highest percentage of trucks than any other interchange on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. On average, 13 percent of all vehicles are trucks in the statewide system.”

July 25, 2007: DEP Newsroom

EPA Approves Air Quality Upgrade to Attainment Status for Ozone in Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lebanon, Perry Counties

HARRISBURG (July 25) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved the state Department of Environmental Protection’s requests to redesignate Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lebanon and Perry counties to attainment for the eight-hour ozone quality standard.

EPA had designated these counties as non-attainment in 2004, but monitoring results that show improved air quality, along with the state’s plan to maintain those improved levels over the next 10 years, resulted in the redesignations.

EPA has proposed lowering the ozone level necessary to meet attainment status. This means that Pennsylvania must continue working to lower the pollutants emitted to the air, which can cause ground-level ozone particularly on hot, humid summer days.

Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lebanon, and Perry counties were five of 37 Pennsylvania counties designated as non-attainment for ozone in 2004. DEP has submitted redesignation requests for 32 of them. Lancaster and Tioga counties were previously approved by the federal government; the remainder are pending with EPA.

Excerpt: "Keen Transport Co., based in Middlesex Township, Cumberland County, donated $7,500 to the Unitarian Universalists of the Cumberland Valley (UUCV) for the purchase of a portable air-quality monitor."

Keen Transport Co. donated $7,500 to the Unitarian Universalists of the Cumberland Valley for the purchase of a portable air-quality monitor. Keen Transport Co., based in Middlesex Township, Cumberland County, donated $7,500 to the Unitarian Universalists of the Cumberland Valley (UUCV) for the purchase of a portable air-quality monitor.

The monitor, which records the levels of soot in the air, will be moved around the county to look for pollution hotspots, said Duane Fickeisen, UUCV pastor and a member of the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania. The monitor will also be used for public education purposes at events. Air monitors cost upward of $15,000. The UUCV is in South Middleton Township.

Central Pennsylvania has registered high levels of soot pollution, which comes from truck, automobile and factory emissions. Cumberland County is home to a concentration of trucking and logistics firms, as well as the intersection of Interstate 81 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

The evidence and warnings of high levels of particulates and other pollution in the air of central Pennsylvania, especially Cumberland and Dauphin counties, should spark something more than a couple of headlines every year. In a new report, the American Lung Association ranks the two local counties among the worst 25 in the country for air-particle pollution.

This is serious business that is a detriment to the health of those who live in this region and their quality of life.

Things were set up perfectly for a picnic at the Macaluso home in Carlisle. There were smiling faces, sunny skies, plenty of good eats … and a strange machine resembling a NASA leftover on the otherwise picturesque green lawn.

“I think I'm going to add arms to it and really make it look like a robot,” Russ Macaluso quipped.

Air-quality experts at the state Department of Environmental Protection are recommending a statewide rule that would limit idling by trucks and the diesel exhaust they generate. The proposed rule would attack the common trucking industry practice in which drivers keep their trucks running during mandatory 10-hour rest stops to heat or air condition their cabs and to power television, Internet access and other comforts.

For months, members of the Clean Air Board have spoken to the community in horrified tones about the Carlisle area's ranking as the 24th most polluted metropolitan area in the nation regarding fine particulate matter.

Blow up a big balloon, then try to keep your mouth in place and let all the air shoot back into your lungs.

That is what an asthma attack feels like, Carol Crupi says. And as she learned this week, asthma sufferers in the midstate might be more susceptible to attacks than those who live elsewhere.

Excerpt: "A year-long air pollution monitoring station in the west end of Carlisle will fill a void in what is known about the area’s air quality, state officials and activists say."

Excerpt: "Seventh-grader Shannon Greenbaum recently confronted two of her fears: the quality of the air and public speaking.

Shannon, a pupil at Yellow Breeches Middle School in Boiling Springs, enjoys spending time outdoors. Like many other kids her age, she rides her bike and runs, never thinking about what she's taking into her body every time she draws a breath.

But that changed after her mother, Susan, showed her the Web site www.air now.gov, which has data compiled from across the nation on air quality. Measurements of ozone and particulate matter are collected from areas, including the Carlisle region."

Excerpt: "CAB members say that Pennsylvania has become a haven for inter-state truckers taking their required 10-hour breaks because it is the only State in the Mid-Atlantic region that has no restrictions on idling."

"'Do you hear my voice?' Marilyn Zatinsky asked in a raspy whisper. 'That’s because of the air quality here.'

A recent transplant to Carlisle, Zatinsky has lived in major cities across the United States, including Chicago, New York and Miami. When she moved to the borough, she expected to find relief from her asthma problems. Instead, things got worse."

Legislation takes aim at truckers’ practice of letting their rigs idle — Members of a local clean air group are leading the charge

Excerpt: "We are getting the pollution of the whole East Coast.

That is how the Rev. Jennifer McKenna sees the problem of trucks idling for extended periods.

Truckers have told her they plan stops in Pennsylvania because the state has no laws restricting the idling of commercial diesel vehicles.

But if she and others like her have their way, the state General Assembly may soon shift gears and enact rules to cut down emissions polluting the air."

Please note: To gain access to the Clean Air Task Force Report, Adobe Reader must be installed on your computer.

Excerpt: "It's pretty hard not to draw a connection between the large presence of trucking and warehousing in the Harrisburg region and poor air quality. The time is at hand, if not overdue, for Pennsylvania to join the growing number of states in adopting regulations limiting the time trucks can idle during long breaks at rest stops. "

Excerpt: "Living in the midstate means co-existing with a lot of trucks. But a Carlisle-based group is aiming to curb the pollutants coming from tractor-trailers. "

Excerpt: “'With our particular problem in Carlisle... we thought this was one way to tackle the problem locally,’ said the Rev. Jennifer McKenna, president of the board.

Pennsylvania is the only state in the mid-Atlantic region with no restrictions on idling. The group cites a DEP estimate that 13,000 diesel vehicles idle in the state for up to 10 hours a day.”

Excerpt: "South Middleton’s school directors found themselves on the receiving end of a citizen advocacy group’s praises Monday night as it sought support for legislation to limit commercial truck exhaust.

‘(Superintendent Patricia Sanker) doesn’t mess around. She just says no idling and that’s that,’ said Winston Cleland, the treasurer of Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania and former superintendent of the West Perry School District.

Appearing along with Dr. Phil Carey, a pulmonary physician of 25 years with offices in Carlisle, Cleland thanked the district for its practice of shutting school buses off when they’re not in use.”

Excerpt: "Customers and neighbors have long dreamed of eliminating the noise, fumes and vibrations generated by truckstops with the flick of a switch.

Kathleen McGinty did just that Wednesday morning at the Petro truck stop in Middlesex Township..."

Excerpt: "It’s good to see a local firm take the lead on an important issue, so we’d like to compliment Keen Transport on its offer to take the 'no-idling' pledge."

By Linda Franz
Excerpt: “’I think the No. 1 thing we can do is educate our drivers,’ said Jesse Keen, vice president of Keen Transportation, Middlesex Township, and cosponsor of the meeting along with the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania. ‘Fuel is money. When you’re out of the truck, shut it down.’

Excerpt: “Keen Transport and anti-pollution activists are meeting Tuesday to encourage area trucking companies to reduce unnecessary diesel truck idling.”

By Matt Miller
Excerpt: "It might seem odd that a trucking company and an environmental group would be allies. Yet, Middlesex Twp.-based Keen Transport and the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania are on the same page regarding cleaning up the local atmosphere."

Excerpt: “State officials took the first step Tuesday toward fulfilling a pledge to study air pollution in Cumberland County.”

Excerpt: “[…] McKenna applauded yesterday's arrival of a portable laboratory truck the state Department of Environmental Protection will use to test the air and show local residents what they're breathing.”

Excerpt: "The intersection of I-81 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike is just a few miles away, and because of that a large number of trucks not only pass through the area, but stay there overnight at truck stops and idle. "

In response to CAB's request for a monitor of the particulate matter in Cumberland County, Governor Rendell and Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty have taken action. Secretary McGinty is sending the Bureau of Air Quality to do a special monitoring study in the Carlisle area for one year. Through the use of the DEP's Mobile Analytical Unit as well as a stationary monitor, valuable information will be collected through all four seasons.

Secretary McGinty announced the details of this exciting initiative at a press conference that took place on Friday, April 21st at 1:00pm. Thank you for coming out and showing your support!

Excerpt: "Rarely has such a large group of skeptical consumers so embraced the start of a new business as they did Saturday when Race Minor spoke about his Keystone Biofuels venture.

Of course, it didn't hurt that Minor's product may be a potential anecdote to the toxic air pollution produced by the neverending stream of trucks rumbling through Cumberland County."

Excerpt: "The Rev. Jennifer McKenna, the board's president and associate pastor at Second Presbyterian Church, said residents might not realize that soot on their homes or doctor visits for bronchial problems could be linked to particulate pollution.

'I think that's part of the problem. I don't think people do know,' McKenna said. 'It's a matter of educating our community.'

McKenna said the group is not opposed to the trucking industry, but wants community leaders to consider air quality when making future land-use decisions. "

Excerpt: "A Tennessee company intends to reduce diesel exhaust from trucks in central Pennsylvania. IdleAire Technologies of Knoxville will install equipment this week at 72 parking spaces for trucks in the Petro Travel Plaza along the Harrisburg Pike in Middlesex Twp.

Instead of running their truck engines and burning fuel, drivers can use IdleAire as an alternative power source for heating and air conditioning, television, Internet access and other comforts of home in their trucks. "

Excerpt: "Poor air quality in Pennsylvania is harming public health, according to a recent report by a state environmental organization. Locally, a concerned citizen group hopes to address the local impact of air pollution at a free symposium in Carlisle Saturday."

Excerpt: "In 2002, for every 10 micrograms per cubic meter increase in particulate matter, the researchers calculated 11,000 additional cardiovascular and respiratory disease hospitalizations. Increased risk for cardiovascular disease hospitalizations, as a result of increased levels of particulate matter, was highest in counties located in the eastern United States."

Excerpt: "Clean Air Task Force (CATF), Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture) and the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania (CAB) called on the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to "tell us the whole truth," in response to EPA's release of its National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) today, estimating that people in the U.S., as a whole, are exposed to a risk from 133 toxic air pollutants that is 42 times the one-in-a-million risk of cancer that EPA considers safe. However, EPA declined to estimate the risk of exposure to diesel exhaust despite their conclusion that "diesel exhaust is among the substances that the national-scale assessment suggests poses the greatest relative risk."

Excerpt: "Jennifer McKenna decided to do something about air pollution after she saw a newspaper ad last summer in which 100 area doctors called for improved air quality standards."

Excerpt: "'I love living and raising my family in Carlisle and it is so sad to me that the air has become toxic,' said Pam Frohman with the Carlisle Area Clean Air Board. “It is time to pass anti-idling ordinances and prevent further land development for the trucking industry until technology significantly reducing diesel emissions is mandated in local municipal codes."