This Community at Risk report is part of an exciting new Sierra Club campaign in Minnesota. Learn more and sign up to help in Minneapolis! |
Minnesota Students Gasp for Clean Air Bush Administration Policies Allow More Pollution, Increasing Asthma Risks
Snowstorms and cold in winter; mosquitoes and heat in summer. In Minnesota, we've learned to tolerate-even enjoy-the facts of life here. One fact of Minnesota life that shouldn't be tolerated, however, is polluted, unhealthy air. Many people don't realize that toxics in our air-many of which come from coal-fired power plants-adversely affect our health, particularly that of children and the elderly. Unfortunately, recent Bush administration actions actually weaken public health protections contained in the Clean Air Act, meaning Minnesota's air problems stand to get worse. Sue Aiken of Arden Hills knows only too well the health consequences of dirty air. Sue is a licensed school nurse who works in two schools in Minneapolis, and one of the main problems she sees among her students is asthma. According to the most recent statistics available from the Centers for Disease Control, the number of asthma cases in the United States grew from about 6 million in 1980 to 17.3 million in 1998. Asthma prevalence among students in the Minneapolis Public School (MPS) system is greater than 11 percent, considerably higher than the national average of 7.5 percent.1 Residents' concern over absenteeism caused by asthma led to the creation of the Healthy Learners Asthma initiative in Minneapolis. This initiative trains staff to recognize, treat, and ultimately prevent asthma attacks in school. But Sue notes that despite efforts to alleviate the problem, asthma is still on the rise. Even though air quality has improved in many regions of the country since the Clean Air Act was enacted in 1970, more than 130 million Americans continue to breathe dirty, unhealthy air.2 In Minnesota there is both good and bad news on this front. The good news is that the Sierra Club and others negotiated an agreement with Xcel Energy in December 2003 which stipulates that the company will convert its coal-fired power plants in Minneapolis and St. Paul to less polluting natural gas. Xcel also agreed to install the best available pollution controls at its Stillwater plant, a move expected to result in the single largest reduction of air pollution in Minnesota history. The bad news is that there are still many old coal-fired power plants in Minnesota that continue to pollute our air and water. For the first time since the 1970s, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued an air quality alert in 2001, warning that the air on a particular day was unhealthy to breathe. The following summer, three more such alerts were issued.3 Rather than holding polluters to high standards and cleaning up our air, the Bush administration has made it easier for polluters to spew even more pollution into the air by creating loopholes that weaken the Clean Air Act and undermine its enforcement. Under the current law, the oldest and dirtiest power plants and refineries must install modern pollution-control technology when making changes that increase pollution. The Bush administration is creating a huge exception to this rule, placing many communities at increased risk of health damage from pollution. People outside the inner city often feel insulated from the problems of poor air quality, but this is a false sense of security. A study of childhood asthma conducted in Rochester, Minnesota, shows that asthma is a concern in middle- and upper-middle-class areas as well as the inner city. Researchers found that in a study group of more than 13,000 school-age children, 12.8 percent had been treated for asthma. This is double the national average.4 Rochester is home to the coal-fired Silver Lake Power Plant, which emits tons of asthma-triggering air pollution each year. In 2002, the Silver Lake plant spewed out more than 882 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions.5 High concentrations of sulfur dioxide affect breathing and may aggravate existing respiratory and cardiovascular disease. The same year, the plant also released 224 tons of nitrogen oxides, a component of smog.6 While the Silver Lake plant has made improvements, it is not as clean as it should be. By crippling the Clean Air Act, the Bush administration has given the Silver Lake facility and all other coal-fired power plants in Minnesota a pass, allowing them to avoid pollution reduction and placing local communities and those downwind at increasing risk of health damage and pollution. We all need clean, healthy air to breathe, and improvements like those being performed by Xcel at their Stillwater plant remind us that this goal is possible. But by weakening clean air laws proven to protect public health, letting polluters off the hook, and refusing to require old power plants like the one in Rochester to modernize and cut pollution, the Bush administration is choosing to leave us with a continuing legacy of unhealthy air. There is a better way. Enforce the law, hold polluters accountable and require them to use today's technology to protect our health and safety. Sue Aiken understands the toll in health and social terms that percentages don't show-disruptions of the school day, frequent school absences, difficulties in reaching families and in getting children to doctors, the hours needed to train staff, teachers, families and kids to prevent attacks. Sue summarizes the situation with characteristic Minnesota understatement: "It takes a great deal of time and energy." For more information contact: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency American Lung Association of Minnesota
Up to Top |
||||||||||||
