What Are Air Pollutants?
Hazardous Air Toxics in Cuyahoga County
Mercury Air Pollution
Motor Vehicle Pollution
Links to More Information on Air pollution

Public Hearing Held on Coal-Fired Power Plant in University Circle(8/10/10)

Which institutions received heating & cooling energy from MCCo? University Hospitals of Cleveland Case Western Reserve University The Cleveland Museum of Art The Church of the Covenant The Musical Arts Association The Cleveland Botanical Garden The Hearing and Speech Center The Cleveland Medical Library Association The Cleveland Institute of Art Severance Hall How does the MCCo provide energy? MCCo burns mostly coal and natural gas to provide steam for heat and chilled water for air conditioning.  75% of MCCo’s power comes from Ohio-mined coal (which burns dirtier than other sources) and 25% supplemented with natural gas and power purchased from the electricity grid.

The Medical Center Company (MCC) has applied to Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) for a renewal of its operating permit for a steam generating and air conditioning supply facility located at 2250 Circle Drive in Cleveland.

This facility sells heating and cooling services to nine institutional customers (see box to the right) within University Circle. MCC burns mostly coal and natural gas to provide steam for heat and chilled water for air conditioning.

Ohio EPA has issued a draft air pollution Title V permit for this facility. If given final approval by Ohio EPA, MCC would be permitted to continue operating two coal and five natural gas-fired boilers and five cooling towers.

When coal is burned, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, fine particle pollution, mercury compounds, as well as other greenhouse gases, are released into the atmosphere. These pollutants contribute to smog, soot, acid rain, climate change and toxic air emissions. The pollutants and air pollution problems impact human health by irritating allergies, aggravating heart and lung diseases and damage to buildings and vegetation.

Kim Foreman's Testimony at the Hearing
(EHW's Director of Outreach and Education)
(YouTube Video of the testimony)

Environmental Health Watch (EHW) is against the continued use of coal as an energy source in a Cuyahoga County, particularly near communities that suffer from environmental justice inequities.  A report from “Scorecard-the pollution information site”, illustrates the distribution of environmental burdens within Cuyahoga County.  Note that people of color and low income families experience more than their share of air pollution and other environmental burdens.  We therefore request an environmental justice designation be applied to this permit and that the public be given more opportunities for input throughout each of the permitting steps. 

Environmental Health Watch encourages MCC to “Be a Better Neighbor” by immediately reducing and soon eliminating coal as source of energy.  EHW urges MCC and its  customers to plan for the immediate transition away from coal.  MCC should use natural gas to the maximum extent possible and only low-sulfur coal while MCC and its affiliated University Circle institution move towards the use of renewable energy sources for all of their power needs.  EHW expects the health, education, religious and cultural institutions of University Circle to set and meet the highest level of public health protection by going beyond current minimal regulations, anticipating more stringent regulations that are currently being proposed, and elevating public health above narrow cost calculations. 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the City of Cleveland’s Division of Air Quality should only issue a final permit that includes a timetable commitment from MCC that specifies a plan for the rapid transition away from coal.  The timetable requirement should include a six-month planning timeframe that will allow for the identification of lower emission options to replace the coal-fired boilers.  If additional gas-fired boilers are the preferred short-term alternative, then they should be required to be installed within a year.  In addition, dispersion modeling and monitoring should be required for any continued use of the coal-fired boilers.  Finally, only a 2-year final permit should be issued as a means to shorten the potential “grandfathering” time period within which these plants may be exempted from meeting new facility requirements, e.g. proposed Air Toxics Standards for Industrial, Commercial and Institutional Boilers.

Burning coal in Cleveland is not sustainable; it is bad for our health, bad for the local and global environment, and as a result of more stringent regulations it will soon cost more than alternative sources of energy. MCC and the University Circle institutions need to move clean energy (beyond coal and natural gas) to the forefront of their business decisions, evaluating costs according to a sustainable “triple-bottom line” that takes into consideration social, environmental and economic costs and benefits. 

What Are Air Pollutants?

• The US EPA designates two catagories of air pollutants - common pollutants and air toxics.
• Common pollutants have been measured and regulated through the Clean Air Act since the 1970's and include pollutants such as ozone, carbon monoxide and lead.
• Air Toxics include pollutants such as mercury and PCBs.
• A summary table for epidemiologic evidence for exposure to outdoor air pollution has been compiled by Don Wigle, author of Child Health and the Environment.
• Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA):
  • Ozone State Implementation Plan
  • Particulate State Implementation Plan

Hazardous Air Toxics in Cuyahoga County

Cuyahoga County Air Toxics Emmissions Inventory (2002)

• As Part of the Cleveland Clean Air Century Campaign the EPA prepared a detailed inventory and analysis of sources of toxic air emissions for Cuyahoga County.  Separate inventories were also prepared for the St. Clair-Superior and Slavic Village neighborhoods. 
  • Inventory Highlights
  • Inventory Summary (pdf, 9pgs)
  • Slavic Village, Cleveland, Ohio (pdf, 4pgs)
  • St. Clair-Superior, Cleveland, Ohio (pdf, 5pgs)
  • Full Inventory Report (pdf, 127pgs)

Air Toxics Exposure Modeling for Cuyahoga County

• As part of an analysis of the modeling data from the Cumulative Exposure Project (US EPA) for Cuyahoga County, EHW found 14 air toxics estimated to exceed the cancer benchmark. Mobile air toxics had the highest exceedences of the cancer benchmarks, by far with several exceeding the cancer benchmarks by more than 20 times.

  • Estimating Exposure
  • Slides, Tables and Graph
  • Air Quality Monitoring in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland, Ohio)

Mercury Air Pollution

• In March, 2004 EHW and the National Wildlife Federation released a report showing that alarming levels of mercury in rain falling on Cleveland, levels up to 31 times higher than the levels EPA considers safe. Read the Akron Beacon Journal's Editorial
  • Mercury Press Release
  • Mercury Report (pdf, 15pgs)

Motor Vehicle Pollution

Anti-Idling
"Just hanging out in your car or unloading freight from a truck? Better turn off that engine. Beginning October 1, it will be unlawful in the city of Cleveland to idle a motor vehicle engine for more than five minutes in the summer or 10 minutes in the winter. And the cities of South Euclid, North Olmsted, and Maple Heights have enacted similar ordinances, hoping to positively affect air quality, economic development, and public health." - from Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) press release.

Diesel Pollution

• Diesel exhaust is a mixture containing over 450 different components, including vapors and fine particles. Over 40 chemicals in diesel exhaust are considered toxic air contaminants by the State of California. Exposure to this mixture may result in cancer, exacerbation of asthma and other health problems.  Visit the American Lung Association to learn more.

• Ohio Environmental Council's Cleveland Diesel Hot Spots Report

• Diesel Solutions for Ohio - Ohio Environmental Council

• National Partnership to Reduce Diesel Pollution - platform (pdf, 1 pg.)

• The Cleveland Clean Air Century Campaign works to reduce diesel pollution through several projects including Highway Fuel for Off-Road Use, Anti-idling Campaign and Cleaner Diesel Fleets for Cleveland.