E-M:/ Smog Episode Wrapup, Plus GuV Stuff

["Alex J. Sagady & Associates" <ajs@sagady.com>]

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Enviro-Mich message from "Alex J. Sagady & Associates" <ajs@sagady.com>
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MISC. SMOG AND GUV CANDIDATE MUSINGS.....

Smog Episode wrapup -- data subject to validation by MDEQ AQD

On Sunday, 6/9/2002, the highest 8 hour average of ozone
measured was 98 ppb for inner city Detroit
at the Linwood site.   This was the highest 8 hour average
ever measured at this site in the time interval 1998 to present.

On the same day, Allen Park hit 95 ppb, 8 hour average ozone.
This also was the highest 8 hour average ever measured at this
site for 1998 to present.

You won't read about this in the Detroit Free Press or the
Detroit News...they both seem to have a chronic blind spot on
the matter of public health threats from ozone to millions of
people in the state of Michigan.

On Sunday, the following 8 hour average ozone concentrations
were measured at or above 85 ppb....the numerical level of the
standard....

Scottville 85
Muskegon   89
Holland 88
Jenison 89
Evans  92
Kalamazoo 86
Coloma  91

Lansing 86

Warren 88
Oak Park 93
Detroit Linwood  98
Allen Park 95
Ypsilanti 88
Tecumseh  85

Of 24 ozone air quality monitors in the state,
14 showed measured 8 hour averages over 85 ppb


Yesterday, by the way, Lansing had the highest PM2.5 readings in
the state considering only stations which have online
data access at 44 ug/m3....24 hour average.  Most of
this will be from long range transport of air pollution,
made worse by Engler/Posthumus/Harding/Nash/Granholm-sought delays
through court intervention going all the way to
the Supremes on EPA's attempt to get nirogen oxide
controls on existing power plants in the Eastern United States.

In looking at the  Guv primary candidates so far, none
of the candidates have mentioned explicitly the problem
that Michigan citizens breathe unhealthy air from
ozone exposure and what they will do to solve this problem.
It is going to take more than power plant controls....measures
to control refueling emissions, and other controls will likely
be required...

Granholm's recent statement mentioned power plant controls, but it was
"cap and trade" instead of requiring all power plants to
install state of the art emission controls.  Granholm, of
course, was the state's primary courtroom advocate against
such power plant controls in her role as Attorney General
arguing a position favoring Michigan electric utilities
rather than breathers.

Sen. John Schwarz's [Republican candidate for Guv) position on power plant 
controls as articulated at the Guv conference is far tougher than
Granholm's position.  Schwarz was calling for mandatory
technology-based controls on power plants, not Granholm's
cap and trade, create power plant "hot-spots," George Bush baloney
approach.

[Although Granholm is calling for no new waste incinerators, no such 
proposed facilities are proposed for Michigan.  By contrast, Schwarz
calls for existing municipal waste and medical waste incinerators
to be shut down, going far tougher and far beyond Granholm's position.  I
never thought a conservative republican physician and former CIA guy
would ever best a so-called "progressive" "out of the box thinking"
Democrat like Granholm on casting tough environmental protection
positions...but there is always a first time.  No one, by the way, has 
called for a ban on open burning of trash...probably
the single largest source of chlorinated dibenzo-dioxin air emissions
in the Great Lakes region]

"Tricky Dick" Posthumus wants to abolish the citizen appeal rights
on permitting control technology decisions for air pollution, apparently,
according to his comments at the Guv forum.  On his watch,
the MDEQ has abolished public hearings as we know them on
all controversial environmental permits under the Engler/
Harding/Posthumus/Nash "public hearing in a booth" concept.  One
cynical environmental lawyer I know likened the Engler/Posthumus/
Harding/Nash so-called policy to treating public hearings like
adult video peep show operations..."public" comments in a private booth
with MDEQ staffers and maybe a court reporter.....where no other members of 
the public or the media will ever get to hear public concerns placed 
publicly on the public hearing record in a publicly accessible forum.

Tricky Dick Posthumus also endorsed the whole mess of
the Bush Federal Clean Air Act relaxation, by the way....

So much for Engler/Posthumus fatigue....




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Alex J. Sagady & Associates  http://my.voyager.net/~ajs/sagady.pdf

Environmental Enforcement, Technical Review, Public Policy and
Communications on Air, Water and Waste/Community Environmental Protection

PO Box 39,  East Lansing, MI  48826-0039
(517) 332-6971; (517) 332-8987 (fax); ajs@sagady.com
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