Air Matters, August 2009

Volume 4 Issue 4
Bureau of Air Management
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
PO Box 7921
Madison WI 53707

Diesel Emission Reductions under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
By Larry Bruss

On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that allotted USEPA’s National Clean Diesel Campaign a total of $300 million divided into four programs:

green diesel truck

The National Clean Diesel Campaign has two goals: to create and retain jobs, and to improve public health. The economy gets a boost as manufacturers build clean diesel equipment and fleets save fuel and money. Public health is improved due to reduced emissions of diesel pollutants. Of the $300 million, EPA awarded $1.5 million to reduce emissions in Wisconsin.

Bruss is Chief of the Regional Pollutant and Mobile Source Section and is located in Madison.

Winners of 2008 Wisconsin Partners for Clean Air Awards
By Jessica Lawent

Congratulations to Frito-Lay, Kohl’s Department Stores, and Mcloone Metal Graphics, winners of the 2008 Wisconsin Partners for Clean Air Recognition Award. These three companies crafted ambitious goals to reduce emissions and set on a path for continuous improvement.

Wisconsin Partners for Clean Air banner

Congratulations are also in order for We Energies, recipient of the Commuter Champion Award. Awards were announced at the Clean Air Extravaganza All-Star event on July 14th at Miller Park in Milwaukee. For more information about the award or the organization, please visit the Wisconsin Partners for Clean Air website [exit DNR].

Frito-Lay - Beloit

Kohl’s Department Stores – Menomonee Falls

Mcloone Metal Graphics – La Crosse

We Energies received the 2nd annual Commuter Champion Award for providing a variety of alternative commute options and incentives to their employees.

Lawent is an Air Management/Transportation Specialist with DNR’s Southeast Region Air Program..

Air Quality Awareness Hits the Road
By Peter McMullen

The Wisconsin Partners for Clean Air (WPCA) is a coalition of nearly 300 businesses, community organizations, schools, and government agencies committed to improving air quality through voluntary actions. The Partners’ vision is to enhance Wisconsin’s quality of life through the successful achievement of cleaner and healthier air. This vision is achieved, in part, through community-based efforts to increase public awareness about the importance of clean air and encourage individuals to take actions that will help improve air quality.

With this vision in mind and with assistance from the DNR Air Monitoring & Transportation Team in Southeast Region, the WPCA developed an air quality exhibit that is displayed at a variety of events throughout the greater Milwaukee area. While this outreach effort facilitated by DNR on behalf of the WPCA has been going on for quite some time, there has been a recent increase in the number of requests for the exhibit, likely attributed to recent business interest in being greener and an awareness of climate change.

The traveling exhibit has grown from such standard events as the Wisconsin State Fair and Asthma Wellness Day to include several events ranging from in-house business events to community neighborhood and church group events. In 2008, the Partners’ air quality exhibit was at sixteen events and is on a similar pace for 2009. The business and community group events tend to fall under similar themes of Transportation, Green, Health & Wellness, Safety, and Sustainability. Materials distributed at these events include public health brochures on ozone and particulate matter, the Air Quality Watch & Advisory Program, Air Quality Index materials, along with tips and suggestions for personal actions to help reduce pollution.

Business and community groups in southeast Wisconsin who are planning events and would like to make air quality information available to attendees can contact Peter McMullen at 414.263.8751 or peter.mcmullen@wisconsin.gov. Have exhibit, will travel (sometimes even by bike or transit).

McMullen is a Program & Policy Analyst in DNR’s Southeast Region office located in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee: An Asthma Capital?
By Lindsay Haas

The 2009 results are in. Milwaukee, Wisconsin has ranked second in the nation in the annual Asthma Capitals research project by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA). The AAFA annually ranks the 100 most challenging places to live with asthma in the U.S. Milwaukee’s ranking is up from previous years, when it ranked third in 2008, seventh in 2007 and fifth in 2006.

According to the AAFA, more than 20 million children and adults live with asthma all over the United States. Annually, cities across the nation are ranked based on 12 factors within 3 groups:

Little boy blows on a pinwheel while an asthma specialist watches.
A small boy with asthma blows on a pinwheel while an asthma specialist watches. Courtesy American Lung Association of Wisconsin

Across the US, and even in Wisconsin, asthma disproportionately affects people of certain ethnicities, gender, and socioeconomic backgrounds. According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS), asthma is more prevalent in African-American females of low-income households than any other adult population in the state. Furthermore, DHS notes African-American boys are more likely to develop asthma than any other child population in Wisconsin. Fight Asthma Milwaukee Allies (FAM) says that of the 30,000 children in Milwaukee that suffer from asthma, 85% are either African-American or Hispanic.

Possible explanations?

Milwaukee County has the highest poverty rate in the state. In high poverty areas we tend to see higher smoking rates, which trigger asthma attacks and episodes. We also see a decrease in health care and specialists available in lower income areas. Milwaukee County has high traffic and plenty of industries to contribute to poor air quality which can be a trigger for asthmatic episodes. It is not surprising then that Milwaukee County ranks the highest in Wisconsin counties for emergency room visits related to asthma complications.

According to Erin Lee of FAM, there are five factors that the city of Milwaukee really needs to address:

  1. Disease prevention: 11 percent of Milwaukee Public Schools students have asthma.
  2. Milwaukee’s air quality and lack of smoke-free laws
  3. High ragweed and pollen levels
  4. Pervasive poverty, with the highest African American poverty rate among the nation’s 30 largest cities
  5. Limited access to specialists in the central city

So what is being done to decrease asthma rates in Milwaukee and across Wisconsin? There is no cure for asthma, but with education and medical help, it can be controlled. Education helps people who are already diagnosed with the disease learn how to take care of their asthma which lowers hospitalization and mortality rates associated with the disease. Organizations like American Lung Association of Wisconsin and Fight Asthma Milwaukee provide free education and supplies to Milwaukeeans, educating thousands of people each year. Also, policy efforts that focus on smoke-free environments as well as indoor and outdoor air quality will help those who have been diagnosed with asthma.

For more information, visit these websites:

Haas is an air quality educator in the DNR Bureau of Education & Information.

When Keeping Cool Gets HOT!!!
By Lance Green

Back in the 1930s, refrigerator manufacturers were looking for a safe, non-flammable substance to replace ammonia and sulfur dioxide that posed significant consumer hazards when released from an appliance's cooling coils. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were perfect – they posed no toxicity or flammability concerns and had just the right physical properties to provide very efficient cooling. Soon CFCs and related hydrochlorofluorocarbon, or HCFC compounds were used in nearly all refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment worldwide.

cartoon of Earth with a thermometer in its mouth

But in the 1980s, scientists discovered that the chlorine in CFCs was being released high in the atmosphere and was destroying the Earth's ozone layer that shields us from the sun's damaging ultraviolet rays. To stop this “ozone depletion,” nations agreed under the Montreal Protocol to phase out CFCs starting in 1990 and to find safer replacements. By 1995, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) replaced CFCs in new car air-conditioners and was soon used in refrigerators, home air-conditioners, and most other applications.

It was soon discovered, however, that although HFCs do not deplete the ozone layer, they have 1,300 to 4,500 times the heat-trapping ability of carbon dioxide (CO2). These colorless, odorless chemicals enter the atmosphere in tiny amounts, often leaking out of appliances or escaping when the machines break or are improperly discarded. And those leaks are starting to add up so the very chemicals that helped solve a previous environmental problem may be contributing to another one, global warming.

Initiatives to reduce GHGs

Many initiatives worldwide are being considered or are already taking place to reduce emissions of these gases and replace them with "natural" substances like CO2 and hydrocarbons.

For more information on this topic, please visit the DNR’s Refrigerant Recovery Program webpage or contact Lance Green at 608.264.6049 or e-mail lance.green@wisconsin.gov.

Green is the DNR Refrigerant Recovery Program Coordinator and is located in Madison.

Air Matters || Air Management

Last Review: August 2009
Next Review: October 2009
Last Revised: Tuesday September 22 2009