Pooping On the Wrong Lawn

Barry O took a drive-by comment crap on this post. And that’s cool – I share the odd affection that some of my fellow threedonians have for our only lib-lurker (THAT WE KNOW OF!!!) But, in this case, the lawn he dumped on is mine. As everyone should know by now (there will be a quiz) I am a scientist, and my particular area of specialization is air quality. But, while I happen to be “no s**t” recognized expert in this field, you really don’t have to be to dismantle Barry’s arguments. All you have to know is where to get the actual facts. (Hint: Not from the Sierra Club or their cheerleaders in the MSM).

USEPA has long provided a host of on-line tools that allow anybody – even reporters – to quickly and easily ascertain the truthfullness of the wacky claims that enviros make. In this case, I’ll be making use of a tool called Air Data, which USEPA hosts at it’s website. Let’s consider the facts.

Barry worries that: “…that new coal plant could make Dallas the MOST polluted city in the country; taking the title from Los Angeles.” That must be one HELL of a coal plant! I mean, we can check out where the actual pollution comes from in the Dallas MSA (MSA = Metropolitan Statistical Area). Let’s look!

This is the last page of a four page summary report, showing where emissions come from in the Dallas MSA. The year is 2002, because that is the year of the last National Emission Inventory. (Since then, we know that industrial – and yes power plant – emissions have decreased further, due to additional regulations that have gone into place, so this is a worst-case look at industry’s contribution). The sources on the left “Point Source Emissions” represent pollution from industry and power plants in the Dallas MSA. The sources on the right “Nonpoint + Mobile Source Emissions” are emissions from everthing else: cars, trucks, tractors, consumer products, dust from fields, etc. Now, look at the totals, in the last row. When you add ‘em up, Point Sources contribute 44,896 tons of emissions to the Dallas MSA. The rest – 1,446,405 tons (97% of the total) has nothing to do with industry or power generation. Barry’s big, scary new power plant that is going to RUIN DALLAS’ AIR QUALITY FOR ALL TIME!!!!!! may contribute a couple of thousand more tons of actual air pollutants to the Dallas MSA which is – in the scheme of thigs -  flea on a gnat’s ass.

But it’s MORE and MORE IS BAD!!! the enviros will whine. Except that it’s not even more. There is a rule, you see, that prohibits industry from increasing the actual amount of any air pollutant in an MSA for which the MSA has a problem. In Dallas, the issue is smog (aka tropospheric ozone). This is an issue in all hot-weather metropolitan areas, for reasons that would bore you to tears. A coal plant COULD contribute to smog formation, due to its emissions of nitrogen oxides. However, before you can build such a plant in a place like this, you have to ensure that the total amount of nitrogen oxides generated by industry in the MSA is reduced. That is, if you add 500 tons of nitrogen oxides emissions, you have to find someone willing to cut their nitrogen oxide emissions by 575 tons, so that the totals continue to drop.

And how has air quality in the Dallas MSA been doing? Well we know the answer to that, right? Under that evil, oil-industry supporting, pollution-loving Bush, things surely went to hell in an handbasket! I’m surprised they are not dropping like flies on the streets of Dallas as we speak.

Let’s look at the trends:

This is a record of the Air Quality Index for the Dallas MSA from 2000 through 2007. You will notice that the number of days with unhealthy air quality has dropped steadily, from 15 unhealthy days in 2000 to a total of 3 in 2007. (2008 and 2009 data has not yet been validated and is not yet available).

Now let’s compare to L.A.:

Forty unhealthy days in 2002, down to 17 in 2007. So no Barry, I don’t think that the evil coal plant – that is actually going to result in a net reduction of the pollutant that causes problems in Dallas – is going to vault you past L.A. in terms of bad air quality.  I’d probably avoid Phoenix though (147 unhealthy days in Pinal County in 2007 – and no coal plants to blame it on!).

Oh, and that electricity bill of yours? Don’t blame coal buddy. Coal fired generation costs about one third of what wind powered generation costs to build and operate. The reason your bill is going up is because your lefty buddies are forcing everybody to build windmills – which have to be backed up by fossil power anyway (since the wind, you may have noticed, doesn’t blow all the time). And if Waxman-Markey – aka Cap and Trade – goes through, you ain’t seen nothing yet! Even the USEPA admits that your electricity bill will double – at least. I’m bettin’ treble.

But you go on blaming the cheapest, most abundant form of power that we have for your woes. You keep getting your science from lazy journalists and enviro-whackos who want to scare the hell out of you so that you will keep the contributions coming. Keep ignoring all of the real, measurable and undeniable envrionmental progess that we have made for the last 40 years. Oh, and when you reflect on how horribly anti-environment the GOP is, try not think about the fact the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, the Wetlands Protection rules, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (aka “Superfund), the Resource Conservation Recorvery Act and just about every other major piece of environmental legislation that has been enacted in the last 40 years was sponsored, signed and implemented by Republican Presidents. That would just make you feel uncomfortable.

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