It's Earth Day and burn ban nears

Thursday, April 29, 2010
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By SARAH FAY CAMPBELL sarah@newnan.com It's Earth Day, and allergy sufferers are breathing easier thanks to Tuesday's rain that washed away lots of the nasty yellow stuff. The pollen count Wednesday was just 150. Though that's still considered "extremely high," it's much lower than previous days. Tuesday's count was 768, and Monday's was 852, according to the Atlanta Allergy and Asthma Clinic.

Last week, pollen counts ranged from a high of 2,492 on April 12 to a low of 1,253 on April 16. The clinic does not provide pollen counts on Saturdays and Sundays. Though pollen is our primary "pollutant" in the air right now, smog season is right around the corner, which means the annual burn ban and the switch to summer-blend fuels are approaching. The annual "burn ban" goes into effect on May 1. The ban, which runs through October, prohibits outdoor burning for land clearing or debris disposal. Cooking and warming fires aren't affected by the burn ban, said Terry Quigley, chief ranger for Coweta, south Fulton and Fayette counties with the Georgia Forestry Commission. Agricultural fires to burn off stubble in cultivated fields are also allowed during the ban, though anyone planning on doing such a burn should call the Georgia Forestry Commission at 770-254-7217. Though residents might think outdoor burning is banned in the summer to prevent fires from getting out of control during the hot, dry months, that actually has nothing to do with it. Instead, the reason behind the burn ban is air pollution. Burning yard waste releases nitrogen oxides and particle pollution into the air. Both pollutants contribute to lung and heart disease, said Jim Kelly, manager of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division's Air Protection Branch's planning and regulatory development unit. Particle pollution is made up of extremely small particles that can increase the risk of a heart attack. And in the heat of summer, nitrogen oxides combine with fumes from fuels, paints, and vegetation to form ground-level ozone, which can cause inflammation to the lungs. Though burning of debris is allowed during spring, fall, and winter, burning of household garbage is always illegal. Burning garbage releases dangerous pollution, including toxic cancer-causing chemicals such as dioxins. Dioxins can accumulate in the food chain and in water ways. Other dangerous pollutants released by burning garbage include sulfur dioxide, lead, mercury, and hexachlorobenzine. If you suspect household garbage is being burned, officials ask that you contact the Georgia EPD metro-Atlanta district office at 404-362-2671. To make a complaint, have the address where the burning is taking place. The EPD gets lots of complaints about people burning garbage, but it can only follow up if it knows exactly where the burning is taking place. For many years, gasoline used in the 45-county metro-Atlanta area was much cleaner than the fuel sold around the rest of the country. But in recent years, the federal Environmental Protection Agency "finally phased in all of their sulfur requirements," said William Cook, engine and fuels unit manager for the Georgia EPD. "Now, the only time our gas is really different from theirs is during the summer." From June 1 to Sept. 15, less volatile gasoline with a lower "vapor pressure" is sold. A less volatile summer blend is required statewide, with even more strict requirements for fuel sold in the 45-county metro area. Vapor pressure is a measurement of how quickly liquid gasoline evaporates in the atmosphere. That evaporation contributes to air pollution. Coweta County was included in the original metro-Atlanta ozone non-attainment area for air quality when it was designated in 1978, according to Jessica Covello, spokeswoman for Georgia's Clean Air Force, which is in charge of vehicle emissions inspections and enforcement. The original non-attainment area included Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Paulding, and Rockdale counties. Cherokee and Forsyth counties were added in 1991. The non-attainment area was enlarged to 20 counties in 2004, with the addition of Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Hall, Spalding, and Walton counties. However, vehicle emissions tests are only required for vehicles registered in Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Paulding, and Rockdale counties. An air-quality monitoring station, operated by the EPD, is located on the grounds of the University of West Georgia Newnan Campus, located off Amlajack Boulevard in Shenandoah Industrial Park. The station measures both ozone and particulate pollution. By 2005, the metro-area's efforts had cleaned up the air enough that the metro-Atlanta area was declared to be in attainment for the one-hour ozone standard. However, in 2004, the EPA adopted a more-stringent eight-hour ozone standard, and the metro-area hasn't yet met the standard. Even if the metro-area began to meet those standards, vehicle emissions testing would continue, Covello said. "Although many strides have been made in the region's air quality, there is more work to be done," Covello said. "Atlanta's growing population and increasing number of vehicles on the road means the metro area is still in need of the program. In addition, the Federal Clean Air Act requires maintaining it." Since the emissions testing program was launched in 1996, nearly 2 million heavy-polluting vehicles have been repaired, Covello said. In the region, particulate pollution decreased substantially from 1999 to 2001. Particulate pollution increased slightly between 2001 to 2004. But as of 2007, it had dropped to 2001 levels, according to the EPD's 2009 "State of the Environment" report. Sulfur dioxide levels decrease steadily from the late 1980s to late 2004, when they started to climb again.

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