Your Air, Your Health, Your Budget
BY COUNCILMAN MATT ZONE - PRESIDENT OF THE NORTHEAST OHIO CITY COUNCIL ASSOCIATION
Did you know that one out of every five people living in the greater Cleveland metropolitan area lives in a diesel “hot spot?” This is an area with chronically elevated levels of toxic air emissions from diesel engine exhaust. According to a recent report titled “Cleveland Diesel Hot-Spots, Dirty, Detrimental and Deadly,” those individuals living in a “hot spot” are at a greater risk of suffering from asthma, cancer, and even premature death from diesel-related air pollution than those who don’t.
According to the report, an estimated 466,000 people living in Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina counties live in a diesel hot spot; that’s 22 percent of the area’s total population. The Dirty Dozen, or the top 12 communities, with the most people living in diesel hot spots were Cleveland, Elyria, East Cleveland, Strongsville, Garfield Heights, Mentor, Maple Heights, Painesville, North Olmsted, Bedford Heights and Lakewood. Both East Cleveland and Bedford Heights have more than 60 percent of its citizens living in a diesel hot spot.
We can improve and reverse this trend but we need your help! In order to make our region more sustainable and healthy, your city should consider adopting a “Fuel Conservation/Idle Reduction Ordinance” in your municipality. The Northeast Ohio City Council Association (NOCCA) has taken the lead to collaborate with, the Earthday Coalition, the American Lung Association, the Ohio Environmental Council, the Clean Air Task Force and the Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Agency (NOACA). We are collectively partnering on a city by city initiative to improve our air quality by regulating vehicles that idle their engines unnecessarily.
NOCCA started out as the Greater Cleveland Suburban Council Association in 1989 as a voluntary membership organization. Today, NOCCA has grown with member cities from Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina and Summit counties. NOCCA provides a forum for its members to work on issues that are confronting the Northeast Ohio region.
Currently, Northeast Ohio fails to meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) health standards for two air pollutants: ground-level ozone and fine particles. These EPA standards, or National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), require our region to make progress toward reducing ozone and fine particles by a 2010 deadline to avoid further mandates and possible financial sanctions. Additionally, businesses find it difficult to locate or expand in Northeast Ohio because of the additional air permitting requirements placed on businesses in non-attainment areas such as our region. The Ohio Trucking Association states that to successfully educate its drivers, implementation of any idle reduction ordinance must be uniform and consistent across large regions.
Automobiles contribute approximately half of all emissions that cause these air pollutants to form. By reducing the unnecessary burning of diesel and gasoline created by idling, we can reduce these emissions and meet the NAAQS. One of the least complicated ways of enforcing fuel conservation is through a “Fuel Conservation/Idle Reduction Ordinance.” Northeast Ohio continually receives a failing grade when it comes to the quality of its air. A major contributor to our region’s poor air quality comes from a highly visible source in diesel engines that transport the goods and people that make our region work. Unlike other sources of air pollution, diesel emissions pose a particular threat because they are released at ground level where they are easily inhaled by people.
Idle Reduction legislation will not only prevent further U.S. EPA intervention, it will also benefit our region by improving our air quality. Poor air quality and idling directly impacts:
- Northeast Ohio’s smog violations of the Federal Clean Air Act. Exhaust from motor vehicles causes both ground-level ozone and fine particles to form.
- Reduced job opportunities. When we are in violation of the Clean Air Act, as we are now, new businesses are discouraged from locating here because obtaining air permits is more difficult than in “clean air” regions.
- Poor respiratory health for our citizens. Air pollution aggravates asthma and breathing disorders, and can cause lung disease, heart disease and premature death.
- Wasted gasoline and diesel fuel. Less idling helps business’ bottoms lines; many local businesses already have adopted their own “fuel conservation policies” to reduce idling by their own fleets.
- Wasted money. Needlessly consuming fuel wastes dollars by citizens, businesses, and municipalities that could be put to more productive use in our local economies.
The good news is that something can be done to clean up diesel pollution in Northeast Ohio. The key is to simply turn your engine off when stopped for more than 10 seconds. Municipalities can do their part by adopting a “city-wide” idle reduction ordinance. A city-wide ordinance signifies that all vehicles traveling in that city are required to obey idle reduction regulations. Twenty states have statewide, county or city-wide idling limiting ordinances. Every city in Northeast Ohio can and should consider a city-wide idle reduction ordinance that targets non-essential idling. Significant emission and health risk reductions are expected to occur, especially in “hot spot” neighborhoods where activity is concentrated.
Reducing vehicle idling cuts polluting greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, maintenance costs, saves fuel and prevents pollution. It will take driver education and practice to change old habits, but it’s cost effective, sustainable and will bring the rewards of a cleaner and healthier environment.
A regional solution to this problem is critical. Air pollution does not respect geographical or political boundaries, so we must work together. I hope you will join me and your fellow NOCCA colleagues in taking part in this initiative. Nearly 30 cities throughout Northeast Ohio already have agreed to adopt a model ordinance, and we plan to have it in effect by Oct. 1, 2009, following a broad public education campaign.
I welcome your participation and strongly urge you to join us in this regional effort. If you have any questions, or want a copy of the model ordinance, please contact me at mattzone@sbcglobal.net or 216-939-1717. NEO
