Charlotte Metro Air Pollution and Environment

[reverbandwhiskey]

[Charlotte's air is almost always bad. Want to get a real sense of Charlotte's air? Go stand next a major road for 15 minutes.

[dubone]

I was driving down 77 today and seeing Uptown soo smogy and hazy was just yuck

(i know that sounds hypocritical since I was *driving* haha)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

charlotte's trees also contribute significantly to our smog/ozone problems supposedly ...

just imagine cities like charlotte if all the hydrogen economy dreams/plans take off.

[DigitalSky]

our trees? or lack thereof?

[dubone]

our abundance of trees.

ground ozone comes from:

Nox (from cars and power plants) + volatile organic compounds (from trees and man-made sources) + heat and light (from sun)

so while obviously smog/ozone comes froms cars and power plants, all of our trees create a major ingredient that creates ozone. With fewer trees, there are fewer of the chemicals in the air that merge with exhaust to make ozone.

Trees also spew out a significant amount of particulates.

Anyway... on balance trees are better than no trees... but our trees are a major reason why our car exhaust turns to ozone rather than something else we'd be in trouble with the feds for.

[dubone]

here is a link

http://daq.state.nc.us/airaware/aqfaq.shtml#O5

[DigitalSky]

mm that's interesting, i thought it would be the other way around. thanks for that

[catdaddy]

charlottes air is bad but i have breathed worse seriously pitsburgh atlanta seatle especially that was the worst

[DigitalSky]

charlottes air is bad but i have breathed worse   seriously pitsburgh atlanta seatle especially that was the worst

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I wouldn't think Seattle with all the rain they're infamous for

[monsoon]

Charlotte has officially had its first Code Red Day this year for air pollution as of today. Air Index as of 5pm was 182 which is well within the unhealthy range. Even Debbi Faubian is saying it is dangerous outside.

You can see the current reading here.

Will continued days like this have a negative effect on developement in the Charlotte area?

Edit: It went to 195 at 5:15

[monsoon]

Another map can be seen here.

[atlrvr]

Hopefully it will indicate the need for green buildings :-)

[ChiefJoJo]

Edit: It went to 195 at 5:15

Actually, if you look closer, it was last updated at 4pm. Could it reach 200+ at the Meck/Cab county line station???

[monsoon]

I did not realize it has been almost 6 years since we hit 100 degrees. August 18, 1999 according to WSOC tv.

100+ temps used to be quite common here in the summer so we could be in for a bad summer. And the Feds might hit us up for $6 Billion in Transportation funds if something isn't done about it. WSOC tv is also indicating that companies might refuse to locate here if the pollution continues.

So far only 9 companies have taken voluntary measures indicated earlier in this thread when it was opened a year ago.

[NCtarheel]

Its extremely annoying that Americans as a whole are so ignorant about the air pollution problem. I dont know if anyone else read this but last week a study was released where researchers found an average of 287 pollutants in UNBORN fetuses. Everything from plastic to mercury. And did u know that 1 of 6 of our generation (18-25 year olds) will have children with developmental disorders because of environmental pollutants? I wish our politicians would realize that we only have one environment and at the rate we're going, we won't even have that one too much longer.

[Skyybutter]

Geograpy plays a major role here folks. Charlotte sits between 2 mountain ranges...the Blue Ridge and the Uwharrie Mountains...this creates a valley where the pollutants sit and get worse until a good storm comes through and cleans the air.

This is shown in the fact that the WORST air in the region is actually in Salisbury...also the air is considerably cleaner in SW Charlotte than it is in NE Charlotte.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I totally agree with this statement. Atlantas air has improved. Alot of federal money was cut off from that city years ago. They have gone to great lengths to improve air quality there. With the humd and hot air in place it seems the only way we could avoid dirty air is for everyone to literally not drive.

[monsoon]

SouthEast Air Quality Map

[Skyybutter]

In San Francisco when the air quality is forcast to be "unhealthy" the public transportation is free the morning of the "unhealthy" day. That sounds like a great idea. Seems like Charlotte might need to try the same thing. Not only on bad air days, but to simply try and get people to try PT out. Not that fares are expensive or anything. Would be worth a shot though.

[Raintree21]

Weird how Fayetteville has almost as large an area of red ozone as Charlotte does but Raleigh-Durham, whose population combined is bigger than Charlotte (or at least pretty close- no need for scathing corrections if i'm off with my numbers) barely has anything. I read the whole mountains theory earlier, but cars are cars and Raleigh-Durham should have a lot more ozone and I would think that Fayetteville would be much, much less

[dubone]

i'm sure the military bases have something to with f'ville's pollution. As far as the triangle vs charlotte, i think there are some differences in population and traffic that might affect it a bit, but the larger explanation, i believe, is that there is a much more significant concentration of manufacturing facilities in the charlotte metro compared to raleigh and durham.

[monsoon]

If you have noticed from a distance, Charlotte kinda sits in the bottom of a bowl which sets up conditions for air inversions that lead to a lot of the ozone problems. The bad air can't go anywhere on bad days like yesterday.

[A2]

If you have noticed from a distance, Charlotte kinda sits in the bottom of a bowl which sets up conditions for air inversions that lead to a lot of the ozone problems.  The bad air can't go anywhere on bad days like yesterday.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here is what I don't get...Why are we going to be punished by the Federal Gov't for our topography. I mean seriously. I am in Atlanta once a month for business and I can tell you that they have two times the cars on the roads than CLT. Plus, no one uses mass transit. I MEAN NO ONE ! If you ever look during rush hour, you never see more than one person in a car. It is ridiculous. So far, CLT has made strides to curb polution by adding bike lanes and improving mass transit options. I think it is a crying shame that the Federal Gov't would hold a city hostage for things it CAN'T control. I am doing my part by carpooling. And for most others that I work with they do the same and/or they walk since they live within walking distance to work. If the Gov't were to withhold federal monies, the problem would NOT get better, but worse. Everything from highway money to Light rail has SOME federal monies tied to it. If you cut out those funds all it will do is create more traffic back-ups leading to WORSE air quality. I also want to point out that a lot of our problems come from certain winds that naturally blow "upstream" from cities like Atlanta and Greenville-Spartanburg. So we have to deal with their bad air AND be punished for it. You can't control the wind. Geeeez !

A2

[teshadoh]

That is funny A2, many people in Atlanta complain that being downstream from high polluting factories in Alabama & western Georgia along with being located in the cusp of the Blue Ridge & Appalachin mountains is a partial reason for the area's pollution.

Of course I don't buy it & fortunately the ARC (regional planning agency) has assisted in Atlanta's improvement of EPA noncompliance. But we're no where near to full compliance, especially with summer days like this week. Nonetheless, I would advise that the greatest course is promoting alternative transportation methods within Charlotte rather than blaming it on someone else.

If any city is getting the raw deal that would be Asheville NC.

[dubone]

topography, upwind regional polluters, and climate are certainly major players, but the federal law basically assumes that local pollution is what brings pollution to the extreme level. By holding localities responsible, it also helps downwind areas, too. So as we benefit from any changes atlanta must make to avoid losing its federal money, we must also do our part to fix our own problems.

NC made a major stride with the Clean Smokestacks bill, but i think much more can be done locally and in NC to help. For example, Mecklenburg (or all NC for that matter) should require gas pumps to recollect fumes, as is the case for most other urban areas in the country. There could also be a number of changes in zoning requirements that could help dramatically. Primary, the city could require grass on roofs of large big box stores and factories, and require shade trees to cover a certain percentage of large parking lots. By removing some of the extreme heat that builds up on exposed roofs and parking lots, many of the chemical processes that create ground-level ozone will be reduced.

I've never been quite clear, though, on why transit money is grouped in. It seems like transit money should be the ONLY thing flowing to cities with this type of problem.

[mediamongrel]

Funny that no one complains about air pollution during winter motnhs OCT-APR. Weird how it only seems to be "deathly ill" when its hot in the summer. What, does it suddenly disappear or somethign in the Winter??? Besides the summer pollution problem is way overblown. Try going to Mexico City and then say we're bad. Smog and haze are natural occurences when the dewpoint is above 60 and temperatures are in the 90's. Even Alaska has haze and smog at times. It has nothing to do with cars factories or lawnmowers as some would have you believe.

[orulz]

I'm certainly not a chemist, but I believe that heat and sunlight accellerate the conversion of hydrocarbons into ozone. That's why it's so much worse in summer.

I read an article the other day about the state of NC suing TVA to get them to commit to certain reductions in emissions from their coal-burning plants in Tennessee. It is generally accepted that acid rain is the root cause that killed off the spruce/fir forest on the peak of Mt Mitchell, and many speculate that TVA is the reason for the acid rain. Up until now, TVA has said "We're spending X dollars to reduce pollutants" but they won't say "We're going to reduce pollutants by Y amount" which is what NC wants, so they can hold them to it.

Personally, I think that all these areas, WNC mountains included, should take ownership of their problems to the greatest degree possible rather than scapegoating the other guy.