scholarly journals Analyzing the health risk assessment of particles in Isfahan Steel Company by AERMOD model

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davood Jalili Naghan ◽  
Alireza Mahmoodi ◽  
Asghar Tavasolifar ◽  
Mohammad Sajed Saeidi ◽  
Yaser Jalilpoor
Keyword(s):  
Health Risk ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Steel Company ◽  
Maximum Value ◽  
Spatial Changes ◽  
Yearly Average ◽  
Arc Gis ◽  
Aermod Model ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Risk Maps

Introduction: One of the effects of air pollution in the community was increasing mortality rate. Determination of contamination was the first step in improving the existing conditions. Therefore, the way of pollutants distribution and the timing and spatial changes were important. This study aimed to evaluate the risk of Parental Emissions (PE) of Isfahan Steel company using AERMOD. Materials and methods: In this research, the distribution of suspended particles of the Isfahan Steel company were modeled in the AERMOD for 1 h, 24 h and yearly average (30×30 km2), then the comparison of the average concentrations modeled with air standards clean country and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional risk maps were provided in Arc GIS. Results: The prediction of the distribution of 24-h mean concentrations indicated that the maximum value for the 24-h average was equal to 8.52 EPA and 25.25 times, the standard Iran's clean air. Also, the prediction of the distribution of average annual concentrations indicated that the maximum value for the average annual time was 91.1 times, the EPA standard and 4.78% higher than Iran's clean air standard. Conclusion: Health risk maps show that the risk spot was not regional in the direction of the region's wind and topography of the region was the main factor in the distribution of risky spots in the region. Legitimate use of the AERMOD could be useful in managing, controlling, and evaluating air pollutants especially in industrial units of the country.

Valuing Clean Air

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Halvorson
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Environmental Concern ◽  
Clean Air Act ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
Elected Officials ◽  
Liberal State ◽  
Monetary Approach ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Roll Back

The passage of the Clean Air Act and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970 marked a sweeping transformation in American politics. In a few short years, the environmental movement pushed Republican and Democratic elected officials to articulate a right to clean air as part of a bevy of new federal guarantees. Charged with delivering on those promises, the EPA represented a bold assertion that the federal government had a responsibility to protect the environment, the authority to command private business to reduce their pollution, and the capacity to dictate how they did so. But revolutions are always contested and the starburst of environmental concern that propelled the Clean Air Act and the EPA coincided with economic convulsions that shook the liberal state to its core. As powerful businesses pressed to roll back regulations, elected officials from both parties questioned whether the nation could keep its environmental promises. Pushing on, the EPA adopted a monetized approach to environmental value that sat at odds with environmentalist notions of natural rights but provided a critical shield for the agency’s rulemaking, as environmental protection came to serve as a key battleground in larger debates over markets, government, and public welfare. The EPA’s success and the potential limits of its monetary approach are evident in the very air we breathe today—far cleaner and healthier as a result of the EPA’s actions, but holding new threats in a rapidly changing climate.

scholarly journals Air quality in the eastern United States and Eastern Canada for 1990–2015: 25 years of change in response to emission reductions of SO<sub>2</sub> and NO<sub>x</sub> in the region

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Feng ◽  
Elton Chan ◽  
Robert Vet
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
Monitoring Network ◽  
Cold Season ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Spatial Changes ◽  
The Us ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Uniform Reduction

Abstract. SO2 and NOx are precursors to form sulfate, nitrate and ammonium particles, which account for more than 50 % of PM2.5 mass in the eastern US and Eastern Canada, and are dominant components of PM2.5 during many smog events. H2SO4 and HNO3, formed from oxidation of SO2 and NOx respectively, are the main sources of acid deposition through wet and dry depositions. NOx is also a precursor to the formation of tropospheric O3, which is an important atmospheric oxidant and is also essential for the formation of other atmospheric oxidants, such as OH and H2O2. In the past 26 years from 1990 to 2015, emissions of SO2 and NOx in US were significantly reduced from 23.1 and 25.2 million tons/year in 1990 to 3.7 and 11.5 million tons/year in 2015 respectively. In Canada, SO2 and NOx were reduced by 63 % and 33 % from 1990 to 2014. In response to the significant reduction of SO2 and NOx emissions, air quality in the eastern US and Eastern Canada improved tremendously during 1990–2015. In this study, we analyzed surface air concentrations of SO42−, NO3−, NH4+, HNO3 and SO2 measured weekly by the Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNET) in the US and measured daily from the Canadian Air and Precipitation Monitoring Network (CAPMoN) in Canada to reveal the temporal and spatial changes of each species during the 25-year period. For the whole the eastern US and Eastern Canada, the annual mean concentrations of SO42−, NO3−, NH4+, HNO3, SO2 and TNO3 (NO3− + HNO3, expressed as the mass of equivalent NO3−) were reduced by 73.3 %, 29.1 %, 67.4 %, 65.8 %, 87.6 % and 52.6 % respectively from 1990 to 2015. In terms of percentage, reduction of all species except NO3− was spatially uniform; reduction of SO2 and HNO3 was similar in warm season (May–October) and cold season (November–April), and reduction of SO42−, NO3− and NH4+ was more significant in warm season than in cold season. Reduction of SO42− and SO2 mainly occurred in 1989–1995 and 2007–2015 during warm season, and in 1989–1995 and 2005–2015 during cold season. Reduction of NO3− mainly occurred in the Midwest after 2000. Other than in the Midwest, NO3− had very little change during cold season for the period. The reduction of NH4+ generally followed the reduction trend of SO42−, especially after 2000 the temporal trend of NH4+ was almost identical to that of SO42−. The ratio of S in SO42− to total S in SO42− and SO2, as well as the ratio of NO3− to TNO3 increased by more than 50 % during the period. This indicates that much more percentage of SO2 was oxidized to SO42−, and much more percentage of HNO3 was neutralized to NH4NO3 in the region near the end of the period.

Accumulation Characteristics, Tolerance Differences and Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Sugarcane

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 420-429
Author(s):  
Guiping Xu ◽  
Chaobing Deng ◽  
Wei Guo ◽  
Hongxiang Zhu ◽  
Xiaofei Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Health Risk ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Risk Index ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Risk Index ◽  
Root Cells ◽  
Sugarcane Varieties ◽  
Economic Output

Seven varieties of sugarcane were grown on soil polluted with heavy metals, including Pb, Cd, and As. Sugarcane growth, the heavy metal contents in different sugarcane tissues, and the subcellular distributions of the heavy metals in the roots and leaves were analyzed. The purpose of this investigation was to study sugarcane growth tolerance, the accumulation of heavy metals and the mechanism of sugarcane tolerance to heavy metals at the subcellular level. Health risk assessments were performed according to the models recommended by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). The patterns of heavy metal storage were demonstrated to differ among different tissues in all sugarcane varieties investigated. Most of the heavy metals that were absorbed accumulated in the roots of the sugarcane, and the heavy metals in the root cells were mostly located in the cell wall. The health risk index was used to analyze the juice and indicated that the consumption of sugarcane juice by adults and children posed no significant health risks. This study shows that sugarcane grown on heavy metal-contaminated farmland is safe for consumption. The results of this study revealed an important and positive implication regarding the cultivation of sugarcane on farmland that is polluted by heavy metals and the potential to simultaneously achieve sustainable economic output and potential environmental restoration.

Battles over US waterways policies are ahead

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Private Land ◽  
Weak State ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Agriculture Industry ◽  
Legal Challenges ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
The Subject

Significance Later this year, the Trump administration’s Navigable Waters Protection (NWP) rule comes into force, the subject of the group's concern. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalised the rule in late January. The rule redefines which US waters are protected under the 1972 Clean Water Act (CWA), and replaces the 2015 Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. Legal challenges meant WOTUS was never implemented, but it still worried agriculture, industry and landowners as it potentially expanded federal anti-pollution oversight to previously unregulated waters and adjacent private land. The NWP is the latest effort in the Trump administration’s environmental deregulation drive affecting climate change, clean air, natural resources extraction, parklands and endangered species. Impacts The greatest beneficiaries of scrapping WOTUS are likely to be mining, construction and chemicals industries. Weak state-level enforcement could reduce wetlands protection by more than a return to pre-2015 levels that the NWP professes. More polluted US rivers could aggravate riparian disputes with Mexico.

scholarly journals Thirty Years of Economics at the Environmental Protection Agency

2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 436-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Al McGartland
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Protection Agency ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Benefit Cost ◽  
Over Time

When the modern era of environmental policy began with creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and passage of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, economists and economics were little used. Over time, economics became a major contributor to formation of environmental policy. Executive Order 12291 pushed economics into the policy process but also rendered benefit-cost analysis controversial. I report on economics’ role in the policy process over time and examine contributions by economists to environmental policymaking. Advancing benefit-cost analysis is an obvious contribution. I describe other areas in which economists have contributed and highlight milestones for economics at EPA.

Alar and apples: newspapers, risk and media responsibility

1996 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon M. Friedman ◽  
Kara Villamil ◽  
Robyn A. Suriano ◽  
Brenda P. Egolf
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
Health Risk ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
American People ◽  
Apple Industry ◽  
The Us ◽  
News Event ◽  
Public Relations Campaign ◽  
Media Responsibility

During 1989, a major environmental and health risk issue, the spraying of Alar on apples, created a furor among the American people. After hearing charges from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) that eating Alar-laden apples significantly increased a child's risk of developing cancer, numbers of school districts dropped apples from their menus and parents poured apple juice down the drains. Apple sales plummeted. The NRDC's charges, which were disseminated by a well-planned and effective public relations campaign, brought counter-charges from the US Environmental Protection Agency, which accused the NRDC of basing its study on poor data, among other things. The core of the dispute was in the risk figures and risk interpretations being used by each organization. This study reviewed coverage in 13 newspapers during 1989 of the Alar issue. It found good and bad aspects, but little to support the degree of criticism applied by many people to media coverage of Alar. The 13 newspapers produced a total of 297 articles during the year and were not sensational in their approach. Many played the story in the prime news sections, alerting people to possible problems as suggested in most interpretations of media responsibility. Many articles also included a large number of sources and gave the apple industry a prominent voice. More problematic was their treatment of the Alar story as a hard news event, with short, superficial articles that lacked detailed analysis of the central part of the controversy—the risk issues. Four newspapers from apple-growing regions provided generally better coverage of the issue than did those from non-apple regions. The Alar issue has become a major landmark in media coverage of risk. The coverage had great economic and other repercussions that still continue. These newspapers would have been more responsible had they made health risk information more central in their coverage. Instead, reporters covered the conflict itself instead of the science behind the conflict. The study suggests a new model of risk reporting to better serve readers and viewers.

Principals, Bureaucrats, and Responsiveness in Clean Air Enforcements

1988 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 213-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Dan Wood
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Principal Agent ◽  
Protection Agency ◽  
Implementation Outcomes ◽  
Hierarchy Model ◽  
Clean Air

A principal-agent perspective has been employed in recent studies to rediscover the importance of democratic hierarchies in shaping public bureaucratic outputs. I test the robustness of the hierarchy model for explaining outputs from an agency that has often been cast in the image of bureaucratic independence, the Environmental Protection Agency. Examining the effect of the Reagan presidency on EPA outputs for clean air, Box-Tiao models are constructed to explain shifts in the vigor of air pollution enforcements between 1977 and 1985. The analysis shows that the influence of elected institutions is limited when an agency has substantial bureaucratic resources and a zeal for their use. Moreover, under these conditions, bureaucracy can even move outputs in directions completely opposite from what a model of hierarchy would predict. The implication is that for some agencies it is necessary to give greater consideration to the agent in explaining implementation outcomes through time.

scholarly journals Sensitivities of NO<sub>x</sub> transformation and the effects on surface ozone and nitrate

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 21961-21988 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Lei ◽  
J. X. L. Wang
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Surface Ozone ◽  
Ozone Production ◽  
Transformation Rate ◽  
Concentration Change ◽  
Air Quality Measurements ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Industrial Regions ◽  
Odd Nitrogen

Abstract. As precursors for tropospheric ozone and nitrate aerosols, Nitrogen oxides (NOx) in present atmosphere and its transformation in responding to emission and climate perturbations are studied by CAM-Chem model and air quality measurements including National Emission Inventory (NEI), Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNET) and Environmental Protection Agency Air Quality System (EPA AQS). It is found that not only the surface ozone formation but also the nitrate formation is associated with the relative emissions of NOx and volatile organic compounds (VOC). Due to the availability of VOC and associated NOx titration, ozone productions in industrial regions increase in warmer conditions and slightly decrease against NOx emission increase, which is converse to the response in farming region. The decrease or small increase in ozone concentrations over industrial regions result in the responded nitrate increasing rate staying above the increasing rate of NOx emissions. It is indicated that ozone concentration change is more directly affected by changes in climate and precursor emissions, while nitrate concentration change is also affected by local ozone production types and their seasonal transfer. The sensitivity to temperature perturbations shows that warmer climate accelerates the decomposition of odd nitrogen (NOy) during the night. As a result, the transformation rate of NOx to nitrate decreases. Examinations on the historical emission and air quality records on typical pollution areas further confirm the conclusion drawn from modeling experiments.

scholarly journals Probabilistic risk assessment and water quality index of a tropical delta river

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e12487
Author(s):  
Osikemekha Anthony Anani ◽  
John Ovie Olomukoro
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Health Risk ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Water Quality Index ◽  
Quality Index ◽  
Hazard Index ◽  
The United States ◽  
Carcinogenic Risk ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Ph Level

Water plays a major role in supporting the wellness and life processes in living things as well as in the ecological structure’s stabilities. However, several environmental scientists have recounted the alarming menace unfit water quality portends as well as the shortfalls of its global utilization in various spheres of life. This study aims to determine the fitness of the Ossiomo River and its likely health risk impact when consumed or used for other domestic purposes. The outcome of the physicochemical and heavy metal characterization showed that most of the parameters surpassed the slated benchmarks. Findings from the study revealed a significant difference (p < 0.05) for water temperature, color, TDS, BOD5, HCO3, Na, Fe, Mn, and THC across the four stations respectively. Meanwhile, pH, salinity, turbidity, TSS, DO, Cl, P, NH4H, NO2, NO3, SO4, Zn, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, and V showed no significant (p > 0.05) across the four stations respectively. The pH level of the water was slightly acidic at the range of 4.40–6.82. The outcome of the computed water quality index showed that station 1 (66.38) was poor for human ingestion which was above the set slated benchmarks of 26–50. However, stations 2–4 (163.79, 161.79, and 129.95) were unsuitable for drinking which was above the set slated benchmarks of 100. The outcome of the health risk evaluation revealed that the hazard quotients (HQs) were considered greater than 1 (>1) for Cr (2.55). The hazard index (0.46) via the dermal pathway was <1 while the ingestion (4.35) pathway was >1. The sum of the HQs (4.81) was also > 1. Thus, there are possible non-carcinogenic health risks via direct ingestion of the water. The outcome from the carcinogenic risk for Pb, Cr, and Cd (6 × 10–3, 4.00 × 10–1, and 1.22 × 100), was somewhat greater than the target goal (1.0 × 10–6 to 1.0 × 10–4) of carcinogenic risks stipulated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency for drinking water, respectively, especially for Cd. There might be a potential carcinogenic risk if the water is consumed when the metal contents are higher than the target limits set. Sustainable farming and treatment of wastes from industrial outputs should be the main management of this watercourse.

scholarly journals Carcinogenic and Non-Carcinogenic Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Water Resources of North East of Iran in 2018

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahdi Sadeghi ◽  
Mina Noroozi
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Health Risk ◽  
Water Samples ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Hazard Quotient ◽  
Carcinogenic Risk ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
North East

Introduction: Contamination of water with heavy metals has turned into a health concern, particularly in the developing countries. In this study, concentration of heavy metals and associated carcinogenic and non- carcinogenic risk was investigated in water samples collected from Gonbad-e Kavus, a high-risk area for cancer. Materials and Methods: Samples were collected from Gorgan River, Golestan reservoir and wells around villages with high prevalence in 2018. Samples were analysed through inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. After determining the concentration of heavy metals in water samples from different sources, health risk assessment was carried out according to the Environmental Protection Agency.  Results: Arsenic in samples 6-9 was higher than 10 µg/L, calcium and magnesium in sample 5 was higher than 200 mg/L and 150 mg/L respectively, and sodium in all samples was higher than 50 mg/L.  According to the findings, these concentrations were higher than the maximum allowed limit in most water samples. Hazard quotient (HQ) in samples 8 and 9 were associated with arsenic and health risk in sample 1 was related to antimony. Furthermore, since all samples contained high amounts of lithium, water from this area better should not be consumed by children older than one year. Conclusion: Given the high rate of arsenic contamination, consumption of water in the study area could be health threatening for all individuals and is not recommended for children. This highlights the need for taking immediate actions to review the water treatment process and ensure safety of the drinking water in this area.

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