WEBVTT 00:01.800 --> 00:04.180 Prof: So I wanted to continue talking about air 00:04.176 --> 00:05.786 quality today and air quality law. 00:05.790 --> 00:12.010 And also to make some comments about Whitman v. 00:12.010 --> 00:13.910 American Trucker in response to a couple of 00:13.905 --> 00:14.395 questions. 00:14.400 --> 00:17.860 So with respect to Whitman, 00:17.855 --> 00:23.505 EPA in 1997 had proposed new PM and ozone standards. 00:23.510 --> 00:27.220 And both the Northeastern states and California supported 00:27.222 --> 00:28.352 these measures. 00:28.350 --> 00:31.560 And members of Congress from the Midwestern states did not 00:31.558 --> 00:32.288 support it. 00:32.290 --> 00:35.240 This is quite common with air quality standards. 00:35.240 --> 00:39.740 It was unprecedented in EPA's history for a single change in a 00:39.736 --> 00:43.936 national ambient air quality standard to have twenty-eight 00:43.937 --> 00:46.367 days of hearings in Congress. 00:46.370 --> 00:49.770 And finally, this was brought to court and 00:49.767 --> 00:53.907 made its way to the Court of Appeals in the D.C. 00:53.910 --> 00:54.530 Circuit. 00:54.530 --> 00:58.330 And the Circuit found that the standards were unconstitutional. 00:58.330 --> 01:01.680 It was eventually elevated up to the Supreme Court, 01:01.683 --> 01:05.243 and I read you the conclusion of the Supreme Court. 01:05.239 --> 01:10.139 But they also raised a separate question about the consideration 01:10.138 --> 01:14.338 of costs and whether or not costs should be part of the 01:14.337 --> 01:15.347 calculus. 01:15.349 --> 01:19.789 In "Section 109(b)(1) instructs the EPA to set primary 01:19.792 --> 01:23.862 ambient air quality standards, the attainment and maintenance 01:23.860 --> 01:26.630 of which are requisite to protect public health with an 01:26.632 --> 01:28.432 adequate margin of safety." 01:28.430 --> 01:29.910 That seems rather clear. 01:29.909 --> 01:32.499 However, they went on, saying that "the 01:32.495 --> 01:35.975 respondents argue that many more factors than air pollution 01:35.983 --> 01:38.513 affect public health...In particular, 01:38.510 --> 01:41.110 the economic costs of implementing a very stringent 01:41.114 --> 01:44.244 standard might produce health losses sufficient to offset the 01:44.241 --> 01:46.691 health gains achieved in cleaning the air, 01:46.690 --> 01:48.250 for example, by closing down whole 01:48.247 --> 01:50.657 industries and thereby impoverishing the workers and 01:50.655 --> 01:53.105 consumers dependent upon those industries." 01:53.110 --> 01:55.730 So this is unquestionably true, and the Congress was 01:55.732 --> 01:57.842 unquestionably aware of it at the time. 01:57.840 --> 02:01.960 In considering the role of economics in decision-making and 02:01.962 --> 02:05.872 how that might be balanced against estimates of risk and 02:05.870 --> 02:09.780 the benefits from tougher air quality regulations, 02:09.780 --> 02:12.670 the court continued "Congress had commissioned 02:12.668 --> 02:15.898 in the Air Quality Act of 1967 a detailed estimate of the 02:15.902 --> 02:19.082 economic impact of air quality standards on the nation's 02:19.080 --> 02:20.880 industries, communities, 02:20.882 --> 02:24.822 and other contributing sources of pollution...The 1970 Congress 02:24.819 --> 02:28.059 not only anticipated the compliance costs that could 02:28.060 --> 02:31.970 injure the public health, but provided for that precise 02:31.968 --> 02:33.038 exigency." 02:33.038 --> 02:36.278 And Section 110 of the Clean Air Act permitted the 02:36.275 --> 02:39.505 administrator to waive the compliance deadline for 02:39.510 --> 02:43.470 stationary sources if sufficient control measures were simply 02:43.473 --> 02:46.913 unavailable and "the continued operation of such 02:46.907 --> 02:50.407 sources was found to be essential to the public health 02:50.407 --> 02:52.187 or welfare." 02:52.190 --> 02:55.560 And Section 202 prescribed that emissions standards for 02:55.562 --> 02:59.252 automobiles could take effect only "after such a period 02:59.247 --> 03:02.427 that the administrator finds necessary to permit the 03:02.433 --> 03:06.373 development and application of the requisite technology, 03:06.370 --> 03:08.520 giving appropriate consideration to the cost of 03:08.521 --> 03:10.301 compliance within such period." 03:10.300 --> 03:13.110 So EPA could decide that it's time for a new air quality 03:13.107 --> 03:15.647 standard, but they could find that the 03:15.646 --> 03:19.906 economic effects were so intense that they could delay that and 03:19.914 --> 03:23.084 offer the industry the opportunity to retool or 03:23.081 --> 03:27.351 reorganize in order to develop the necessary technology, 03:27.348 --> 03:31.898 say a new emission control system in order to meet that new 03:31.896 --> 03:32.756 standard. 03:32.758 --> 03:37.748 So despite this consideration of cost, the court found that 03:37.751 --> 03:43.261 the engine driving nearly all of Title I is Section 109(b)(1). 03:43.258 --> 03:46.498 And I commend you to read this, you can call it up on EPA's 03:46.503 --> 03:48.713 website, that these standards have to be 03:48.712 --> 03:51.642 set to protect public health with this margin of safety to 03:51.641 --> 03:54.111 account for uncertainty in the risk estimate. 03:54.110 --> 03:56.380 So when in interpreting the statutory text, 03:56.381 --> 03:58.111 Congress does not, one might say, 03:58.110 --> 03:59.950 hide elephants in mouse holes. 03:59.949 --> 04:02.159 So they overturned the appellate ruling. 04:02.158 --> 04:06.408 I want to take you back to where I left you on Tuesday and 04:06.414 --> 04:10.604 talk a little bit more about asthma and the prevalence of 04:10.597 --> 04:15.147 asthma and the finding by Mark Cullen and Eileen Storey at the 04:15.151 --> 04:19.481 University of Connecticut that between three and twenty-two 04:19.482 --> 04:23.962 percent of kids in Connecticut schools have been diagnosed by 04:23.961 --> 04:25.531 physicians. 04:25.528 --> 04:28.368 And by the way, one of the gold standards for 04:28.370 --> 04:32.050 recognizing an illness in a population would be looking at 04:32.052 --> 04:35.672 whether or not it had been diagnosed by a physician. 04:35.670 --> 04:37.910 And in schools, it's interesting that if your 04:37.906 --> 04:40.856 child is on any medication, then you have to register those 04:40.857 --> 04:42.787 medications with the school nurse. 04:42.790 --> 04:45.020 So the school nurse has to keep very tight control. 04:45.019 --> 04:49.449 In fact, they maintain the meds in the nurses' offices so that 04:49.449 --> 04:53.659 this is a really interesting and important and high quality 04:53.663 --> 04:55.773 method of record keeping. 04:55.769 --> 04:59.699 So Mark and I and several others wondered together about 04:59.702 --> 05:03.922 what the causes of the rise in asthma might have been during 05:03.923 --> 05:05.643 the 1980s and 1990s. 05:05.639 --> 05:08.279 And we started thinking about what had changed, 05:08.281 --> 05:11.561 whether or not kids might be exposed to different kinds of 05:11.555 --> 05:12.355 chemicals. 05:12.360 --> 05:16.230 And I left you also with this lung section. 05:16.230 --> 05:18.880 And I wanted to come back to this, because I didn't explain 05:18.877 --> 05:20.427 it very carefully the other day. 05:20.430 --> 05:23.690 So on the left is basically rat lung tissue exposed to low 05:23.687 --> 05:25.687 concentrations of diesel exhaust. 05:25.689 --> 05:29.729 And what you see is the coagulation between cells of the 05:29.733 --> 05:33.193 particulate matter, the carbon in those that are 05:33.189 --> 05:35.909 exposed at higher concentrations. 05:35.910 --> 05:39.880 Now what this suggests is that you might think about scenarios 05:39.879 --> 05:42.939 that would lead to higher levels of exposure. 05:42.940 --> 05:44.790 So what might those be? 05:44.790 --> 05:47.450 Well, we're talking about black carbon in this case. 05:47.449 --> 05:51.309 So when are people more exposed to combustion byproducts? 05:51.310 --> 05:55.310 So one of the things you should always think about in terms of 05:55.310 --> 05:59.310 those that are more exposed would be occupational settings. 05:59.310 --> 06:01.430 So how about, for example, 06:01.427 --> 06:02.187 miners? 06:02.189 --> 06:05.319 So in coal mines, the coal dust is also carbon 06:05.322 --> 06:05.812 dust. 06:05.810 --> 06:09.580 But also, they use diesel generators to provide 06:09.579 --> 06:14.579 electricity to basically give energy to the jackhammers and to 06:14.581 --> 06:18.271 the lighting that they have in the mines. 06:18.269 --> 06:22.109 So the combination of unventilated diesel generator 06:22.113 --> 06:26.423 fumes on top of the coal dust leads to high exposures. 06:26.420 --> 06:27.950 And what about truck drivers? 06:27.949 --> 06:30.359 It was interesting, after the study that I'm going 06:30.355 --> 06:32.265 to review with you in a few moments, 06:32.269 --> 06:35.839 I received a phone call from someone who had seen it, 06:35.839 --> 06:39.289 and they wondered whether or not they should get involved. 06:39.290 --> 06:42.750 This was the American Federation of Labor, 06:42.747 --> 06:43.927 the AFL-CIO. 06:43.930 --> 06:47.470 They were concerned that they were an organization or truck 06:47.468 --> 06:51.008 drivers that really might be one of the more highly exposed 06:51.007 --> 06:51.677 groups. 06:51.680 --> 06:54.390 Highly exposed because they sit inside their trucks all day 06:54.394 --> 06:57.294 long, and especially in urban areas 06:57.288 --> 07:00.588 where traffic comes to a standstill, 07:00.588 --> 07:03.678 you could expect that the exposures would be highest. 07:03.680 --> 07:07.620 So occupational settings are clearly one area where people 07:07.617 --> 07:09.827 might be more heavily exposed. 07:09.829 --> 07:14.129 A couple other human lung tissue samples that I wanted to 07:14.130 --> 07:17.740 show you with respect to black carbon, actually, 07:17.740 --> 07:18.740 only one. 07:18.740 --> 07:22.330 So bringing you back to the map and the concept of the way that 07:22.329 --> 07:25.689 we understand the air pollution problem is really driven by 07:25.685 --> 07:27.245 these dots on this map. 07:27.250 --> 07:30.430 Could be in any state in the nation and you'd see a similar 07:30.427 --> 07:33.657 kind of map with the monitoring stations scattered about. 07:33.660 --> 07:37.330 And in some instances, they have a concentration where 07:37.334 --> 07:41.224 they think that the ambient concentrations are highest so 07:41.216 --> 07:45.376 that you can see them down along the southeastern part of the 07:45.377 --> 07:46.207 coast. 07:46.209 --> 07:48.609 And this is the area that is out of compliance. 07:48.610 --> 07:51.370 It's a "nonattainment zone" for both particulate 07:51.370 --> 07:52.290 matter and ozone. 07:52.290 --> 07:55.920 And also, up in the Hartford area so that you see a 07:55.916 --> 07:57.726 collection of monitors. 07:57.730 --> 08:01.980 But also, they are trying to figure out the variability in 08:01.978 --> 08:05.638 distribution of pollution, so they put monitors also in 08:05.644 --> 08:08.444 parts of the state that are less densely populated. 08:08.439 --> 08:12.879 So thinking about this, a group of us decided that we 08:12.882 --> 08:18.102 really wanted to understand what the air was like in the kids' 08:18.096 --> 08:18.776 day. 08:18.778 --> 08:22.418 So rather than relying on the reports from these different 08:22.420 --> 08:25.630 monitoring stations, what if we took monitors and we 08:25.632 --> 08:28.952 put them on children and then we followed them through their 08:28.947 --> 08:31.907 daily routine, from the time they left home to 08:31.906 --> 08:35.546 the time that they came back to their house after school? 08:35.548 --> 08:40.428 So a group of us, including David Brown from the 08:40.428 --> 08:45.618 Centers for Disease Control and Nancy Alderman, 08:45.620 --> 08:47.620 who runs a group called Environment and Human Health, 08:47.620 --> 08:48.670 Mark Cullen, Susan Addis, 08:48.671 --> 08:50.951 the former Commissioner of Health in Connecticut, 08:50.950 --> 08:53.090 and Bob LaCamera, who is a professor of 08:53.094 --> 08:54.114 pediatrics here. 08:54.110 --> 08:57.350 This was the group that took this study on, 08:57.346 --> 09:01.586 along with some technical analysts at UConn that run the 09:01.587 --> 09:03.127 EPA testing lab. 09:03.129 --> 09:06.759 So all of the air quality measurements that are taken in 09:06.763 --> 09:10.333 the state go through their laboratory to make sure that 09:10.331 --> 09:12.381 they're carefully analyzed. 09:12.379 --> 09:16.479 And I also left you with this chart so that you could keep in 09:16.480 --> 09:20.580 mind the idea that you've got a temporal variation in ambient 09:20.582 --> 09:24.412 outdoor air quality that appears to be driven and perhaps 09:24.410 --> 09:27.520 predictable, not just by month of the year, 09:27.524 --> 09:29.284 but also by hour of the day. 09:29.278 --> 09:32.068 So what were these monitors like? 09:32.070 --> 09:33.570 Here's an example. 09:33.570 --> 09:37.420 A gas canister, a little metal globe that was 09:37.416 --> 09:42.396 pulling in air at a preset rate, it had a vacuum in it. 09:42.399 --> 09:45.459 So that we were looking for about fifty-five different 09:45.461 --> 09:48.811 volatile organic compounds that we knew were part of diesel 09:48.811 --> 09:49.621 emissions. 09:49.620 --> 09:52.530 And by the way, we weren't really sure whether 09:52.533 --> 09:56.483 or not the exposure was highest during the travel to school or 09:56.481 --> 10:00.371 whether or not their exposure and their risk would be highest 10:00.365 --> 10:01.915 within the school. 10:01.918 --> 10:05.178 So we used a variety of different pieces of equipment 10:05.182 --> 10:08.892 that could monitor chemicals that might be more concentrated 10:08.886 --> 10:11.896 either in traffic or in indoor environments. 10:11.899 --> 10:14.449 In indoor environments, what kinds of chemicals might 10:14.445 --> 10:15.665 you be concerned about? 10:15.668 --> 10:18.268 Well, it could be, say, the chemicals in a 10:18.274 --> 10:21.334 photography laboratory or a chemistry laboratory, 10:21.325 --> 10:23.735 such as benzene or other solvents. 10:23.740 --> 10:27.210 Or it might be other kinds of cleaning products, 10:27.211 --> 10:29.281 or it could be pesticides. 10:29.278 --> 10:34.338 So that we tried to figure this out in a way that would point us 10:34.344 --> 10:37.564 to the most risky sources of exposure. 10:37.558 --> 10:41.368 And with respect to particulate matter, these carbon particles, 10:41.373 --> 10:43.713 this was the chart that we produced. 10:43.710 --> 10:48.460 By the way, part of the story is that this is my daughter when 10:48.460 --> 10:51.030 she was about twelve years old. 10:51.029 --> 10:54.129 So she was the first guinea pig. 10:54.129 --> 10:58.519 She agreed to carry this BOC canister, but also she has a 10:58.523 --> 11:02.213 formaldehyde pump sitting here on her jacket. 11:02.210 --> 11:05.300 And she's got a particle meter here to strapped to her belt. 11:05.298 --> 11:08.648 And she carried an IV cart that had a carbon monitor, 11:08.649 --> 11:12.129 an ethylometer that's about the size of a microwave. 11:12.129 --> 11:15.309 So she walked around with this thing by her side all day long. 11:15.308 --> 11:20.238 And as a rather amusing anecdote on the side, 11:20.240 --> 11:23.900 when she first stepped on a bus, all the kids in the back of 11:23.903 --> 11:27.633 the bus screamed because of our post-eleven sensitivity about 11:27.629 --> 11:31.049 what people might look like all strapped up in technical 11:31.046 --> 11:32.036 equipment. 11:32.038 --> 11:34.168 The bus driver threw her off the bus. 11:34.168 --> 11:36.708 And that's when I realized that I should have called the 11:36.708 --> 11:39.108 superintendent and warned them what we were doing. 11:39.110 --> 11:45.170 So here's the outcome of our initial tests. 11:45.168 --> 11:49.298 We found that there was a burst of exposure early in the day to 11:49.301 --> 11:53.301 PM 10, and also a burst of exposure at the end of the day. 11:53.298 --> 11:56.218 But there were also increases that we saw during the middle of 11:56.217 --> 11:58.177 the day that really were not explained. 11:58.178 --> 12:01.458 And it took us a little while to figure it out, 12:01.456 --> 12:05.516 but the kind of particles that we were measuring varied by 12:05.519 --> 12:07.229 where the child was. 12:07.230 --> 12:11.240 So if they're waiting for the bus or they're on the school 12:11.239 --> 12:15.319 bus, one could presume that these were carbon particles. 12:15.320 --> 12:18.170 But if they're just in the gym moving around, 12:18.168 --> 12:20.238 these could be dust particles. 12:20.240 --> 12:23.300 So if I had a chalkboard up here and I could take an eraser 12:23.298 --> 12:25.248 and just pat it against the board, 12:25.250 --> 12:28.420 you'd see a cloud of PM 10, particulate matter ten, 12:28.419 --> 12:29.799 move up into the air. 12:29.798 --> 12:33.618 The same thing with a gymnasium where you have say fifty kids 12:33.616 --> 12:37.176 running around playing basketball or some other sport. 12:37.178 --> 12:39.458 You get particles moving into the air. 12:39.460 --> 12:42.250 So we needed to discern the carbon particles from other 12:42.245 --> 12:43.325 kinds of particles. 12:43.330 --> 12:48.820 So 600,000 school buses exist in the United States, 12:48.820 --> 12:52.650 and we also faced the problem of trying to figure out whether 12:52.650 --> 12:56.290 or not exposure during those high periods early in the day 12:56.292 --> 12:59.872 and late in the day were the result of going to school in 12:59.868 --> 13:03.758 traffic from the buses or were the particles coming from other 13:03.764 --> 13:04.854 vehicles? 13:04.850 --> 13:07.600 So I'll tell you a bit more about that in just a moment. 13:07.600 --> 13:11.960 So here's a very quick summary of this study that was picked up 13:11.961 --> 13:14.911 by Good Morning, America when it was 13:14.914 --> 13:15.834 released. 13:15.830 --> 13:19.540 GMA Host: But now we turn back to this 13:19.535 --> 13:20.205 story. 13:20.210 --> 13:23.830 Important news for every parent of children who ride school 13:23.830 --> 13:24.330 buses. 13:24.330 --> 13:25.890 Later today, a new study from Yale 13:25.886 --> 13:28.936 University will be released, saying the amount of diesel 13:28.940 --> 13:32.300 fumes emitted by most school buses reaches levels that are 13:32.298 --> 13:35.418 substantially higher than the government standard. 13:35.418 --> 13:37.938 And those fumes are going directly into the air your 13:37.940 --> 13:38.880 children breathe. 13:38.879 --> 13:42.389 Our consumer correspondent Greg Hunter has an exclusive look at 13:42.389 --> 13:43.069 the study. 13:43.070 --> 13:46.930 Greg Hunter [on video]: Twenty-four million 13:46.928 --> 13:51.788 children in America ride to and from school every day on a fleet 13:51.788 --> 13:54.488 of nearly 600,000 school buses. 13:54.490 --> 13:57.060 Most are powered by diesel fuel. 13:57.058 --> 14:02.978 And each of those children, on average, spends an estimated 14:02.976 --> 14:08.176 180 hours every year on board one of those buses. 14:08.179 --> 14:12.589 Here's the bad news. 14:12.590 --> 14:15.480 According to a new Yale University study by Professor 14:15.482 --> 14:18.492 John Wargo, some kids are getting high levels of diesel 14:18.488 --> 14:20.378 exhaust from their school bus. 14:20.379 --> 14:24.609 Using ultra-sensitive monitors, which he placed directly on 14:24.613 --> 14:27.853 school children, Wargo took readings of the air 14:27.845 --> 14:31.165 quality around the children every minute throughout the 14:31.168 --> 14:32.458 entire school day. 14:32.460 --> 14:35.710 So you found out exactly what they were breathing in, 14:35.711 --> 14:36.901 minute to minute? 14:36.899 --> 14:38.679 John Wargo [on video]: Yeah, we mapped it out. 14:38.683 --> 14:40.303 Actually, every ten seconds we took a reading. 14:40.298 --> 14:42.588 Greg Hunter [on video]: Wargo's readings showed 14:42.585 --> 14:45.125 spikes in the measurement of diesel exhaust at certain points 14:45.125 --> 14:45.755 of the day. 14:45.759 --> 14:49.129 His results differ from those of the EPA because the EPA 14:49.130 --> 14:52.500 measures air quality at fixed locations and averages the 14:52.501 --> 14:54.771 results over a three-year period. 14:54.769 --> 14:58.499 How much higher than the government's acceptable level 14:58.499 --> 15:00.539 were you finding routinely? 15:00.538 --> 15:02.518 John Wargo [on video]: Well, 15:02.519 --> 15:05.089 for short periods of time, we were finding levels that 15:05.090 --> 15:08.000 were five to 10 times higher than the government standard. 15:08.000 --> 15:09.720 Greg Hunter [on video]: That's a big spike. 15:09.720 --> 15:11.460 John Wargo [on video]: It was a surprise to me. 15:11.460 --> 15:13.970 Greg Hunter [on video]: There's no telling exactly 15:13.972 --> 15:16.492 what exposure to this kind of diesel exhaust could do to a 15:16.486 --> 15:18.816 child's health, but children with asthma, 15:18.817 --> 15:21.247 like thirteen-year-old Erin Paternoster, 15:21.250 --> 15:24.010 say they feel it every time they get on the bus. 15:24.009 --> 15:26.899 Did you ever have a time when you got on the bus feeling great 15:26.900 --> 15:28.560 and got off the bus feeling sick? 15:28.558 --> 15:30.888 Erin Paternoster [on video]: Yeah, many times, 15:30.892 --> 15:33.582 I go on the bus and then I come off of it and I feel tightness 15:33.576 --> 15:36.296 in my chest or I can feel like I'm starting to wheeze or I feel 15:36.303 --> 15:37.583 like I need my inhaler. 15:37.580 --> 15:39.270 Greg Hunter [on video]: Her father, 15:39.273 --> 15:40.083 John, is outraged. 15:40.080 --> 15:43.030 John Paternoster [on video]: I'm not sure you're going 15:43.032 --> 15:44.922 to find a parent who's going to say, 15:44.918 --> 15:46.418 you know, we're--we're doing something right now that's 15:46.418 --> 15:48.798 harmful to our children, let's wait five more years 15:48.801 --> 15:50.811 before we do anything about it. 15:50.809 --> 15:52.369 Parents won't stand for that. 15:52.370 --> 15:54.180 Greg Hunter [on video]: But that's exactly what 15:54.182 --> 15:54.822 the EPA is doing. 15:54.820 --> 15:57.330 In 2006, they're going to implement new, 15:57.331 --> 15:59.911 cleaner standards for all diesel engines, 15:59.909 --> 16:01.649 including school buses. 16:01.649 --> 16:04.729 The reason they're implementing cleaner standards, 16:04.730 --> 16:07.320 in part, they say, because diesel exhaust is 16:07.321 --> 16:10.981 likely to cause lung cancer, and they say the regulations 16:10.981 --> 16:14.701 will prevent more than 8,000 premature deaths and more than 16:14.695 --> 16:16.355 300,000 asthma attacks. 16:16.360 --> 16:20.520 Wargo used two devices, one measured gases like benzene 16:20.522 --> 16:24.382 and the other measured ultra-fine particles such as 16:24.375 --> 16:25.065 soot. 16:25.070 --> 16:28.990 Wargo had 15 school children carry these devices throughout 16:28.994 --> 16:30.284 their school day. 16:30.278 --> 16:32.828 John Wargo [on video]: What we found was in the 16:32.831 --> 16:35.711 morning, when they got on the bus, they were exposed to a high 16:35.711 --> 16:37.131 intensity of particulates. 16:37.129 --> 16:40.959 They tended to diminish during the school day. 16:40.960 --> 16:43.330 And then at the end of the day, there was another burst to 16:43.331 --> 16:44.041 their exposure. 16:44.038 --> 16:46.808 Greg Hunter [on video]: Wargo also found the level 16:46.807 --> 16:49.667 of diesel exhaust aboard the buses was especially high under 16:49.673 --> 16:52.173 certain conditions, such as when the buses were 16:52.169 --> 16:54.289 parked end to end in front of the school, 16:54.289 --> 16:56.109 with the engines idling. 16:56.110 --> 16:59.320 I can smell the exhaust on the bus. 16:59.320 --> 17:00.830 John Wargo [on video]: Yes, absolutely. 17:00.830 --> 17:02.390 Greg Hunter [on video]: So it comes right out-- 17:02.389 --> 17:05.159 The school bus industry says there's an earlier study 17:05.159 --> 17:08.359 conducted in a Virginia school district last March that shows 17:08.355 --> 17:11.335 breathing the air on Fairfax County Public Schools' buses 17:11.337 --> 17:12.827 poses no health risks. 17:12.828 --> 17:14.858 GMA Interviewee: Obviously, 17:14.861 --> 17:17.671 one thing is caution the parents of the country, 17:17.669 --> 17:19.759 don't be alarmed at this point. 17:19.759 --> 17:22.929 Let's wait and make sure we understand everything before we 17:22.934 --> 17:26.224 make decisions that affect the health of our children and our 17:26.221 --> 17:27.591 own health ourselves. 17:27.588 --> 17:28.658 Greg Hunter [on video]: Another industry group, 17:28.660 --> 17:31.530 the Diesel Technology Forum, argues that the diesel engines 17:31.528 --> 17:34.398 now being produced are much cleaner than the diesel engines 17:34.397 --> 17:36.507 of the past, and that with proper 17:36.512 --> 17:40.272 maintenance, diesel school buses pose no threat to riders. 17:40.269 --> 17:45.449 The costly process of upgrading a large bus fleet still poses a 17:45.450 --> 17:49.210 challenge to cash-strapped public schools, 17:49.210 --> 17:52.840 and even with the cash, it will still take time. 17:52.838 --> 17:55.698 Diane Sawyer [on video]: Our consumer correspondent 17:55.704 --> 17:57.044 Greg Hunter joins us now. 17:57.038 --> 17:58.448 So you're a parent, you see this, 17:58.448 --> 17:59.898 you want to do something, what? 17:59.900 --> 18:01.850 Greg Hunter [on video]: One of the best things Dr. 18:01.848 --> 18:04.138 Wargo says that schools can do, and they do it in California 18:04.142 --> 18:06.512 and they do it in states like Connecticut, is having a no-idle 18:06.511 --> 18:06.941 policy. 18:06.940 --> 18:09.150 The school bus pulls up, they cut the engine off and 18:09.151 --> 18:11.711 that way they're not kicking out all that diesel exhaust. 18:11.710 --> 18:14.510 Another thing they can do is stagger the times for the buses 18:14.513 --> 18:16.293 to come in, so instead of all of them 18:16.290 --> 18:17.580 pulling up, the kids getting on, 18:17.577 --> 18:20.067 and all of them pulling off, they stagger the times they 18:20.069 --> 18:22.719 come in and that will help alleviate the problem. 18:22.720 --> 18:25.660 He says it's going to be kind of expensive retrofitting some 18:25.663 --> 18:27.163 of these buses, five to $6,000, 18:27.162 --> 18:28.562 it's going to take time. 18:28.558 --> 18:29.848 Diane Sawyer [on video]: What's more important? 18:29.849 --> 18:33.589 Prof: Okay. 18:33.589 --> 18:34.799 A couple of asides. 18:34.798 --> 18:36.838 When we were both standing on the school bus, 18:36.835 --> 18:39.235 there was a film crew there with about six people. 18:39.240 --> 18:42.490 The fumes were-- it was a day actually like this, 18:42.490 --> 18:44.660 with a high level of humidity. 18:44.660 --> 18:46.180 All of us got sick. 18:46.180 --> 18:48.840 All of us got sick within a matter of about five minutes. 18:48.838 --> 18:51.328 And it was curious, because the consumer 18:51.326 --> 18:52.976 correspondent, Greg Hunter, 18:52.983 --> 18:56.943 he didn't believe that we were really picking up chemicals that 18:56.938 --> 18:58.148 were dangers. 18:58.150 --> 19:02.010 But after he and the entire crew felt nauseous and we all 19:02.009 --> 19:06.079 got headaches because we had lined the buses up one in front 19:06.076 --> 19:09.246 of another, and we the emissions were 19:09.250 --> 19:13.230 basically just building up as the time went by. 19:13.230 --> 19:17.660 He was clearly convinced that this was a more serious problem. 19:17.660 --> 19:19.880 So I want to take you back to the averaging issue, 19:19.880 --> 19:23.180 and remember that there's twenty-four-hour averaging 19:23.181 --> 19:26.551 requirement over three years that's in play with this 19:26.548 --> 19:27.388 standard. 19:27.390 --> 19:31.600 And that was represented by the graph that I showed you 19:31.603 --> 19:32.543 yesterday. 19:32.538 --> 19:35.958 If you took the data that we produced for just one child, 19:35.960 --> 19:39.480 as an example, and you average it over one 19:39.482 --> 19:44.052 hour or over eight hours, you see that all of the levels 19:44.046 --> 19:45.336 would be reduced. 19:45.338 --> 19:49.588 So your image of what the levels were would be down in 19:49.593 --> 19:52.963 this low range, missing experiences of much 19:52.963 --> 19:54.653 higher pollution. 19:54.650 --> 19:57.940 So again, the averaging issue played out in the way that we 19:57.938 --> 20:00.828 had to think about different kinds of strategies. 20:00.828 --> 20:04.748 The other issue that I wanted to bring to your attention that 20:04.747 --> 20:07.617 surprised me was that the amount of time, 20:07.618 --> 20:09.738 the amount of exposure, was far higher than I could 20:09.737 --> 20:10.327 have imaged. 20:10.328 --> 20:14.338 So this diagram just shows you that the millions of hours per 20:14.338 --> 20:17.678 year spent on buses by kids in different states. 20:17.680 --> 20:19.830 And I want to point to just a couple of states here. 20:19.828 --> 20:24.258 New York has the highest amount of time spent by child hours on 20:24.257 --> 20:27.667 a bus, predominately because of the 20:27.665 --> 20:33.585 rural parts of New York and the relatively high population in 20:33.594 --> 20:34.784 New York. 20:34.779 --> 20:36.299 But compare that to California. 20:36.298 --> 20:40.738 California has a little bit less than half of the hours or 20:40.741 --> 20:43.471 the total exposure than New York. 20:43.470 --> 20:45.380 Now why might that be? 20:45.380 --> 20:47.160 Anybody have an idea? 20:47.160 --> 20:51.420 Sorry? 20:51.420 --> 20:57.340 Student: ** Prof: Okay, 20:57.338 --> 20:59.858 well remember the population of California is 40 million people, 20:59.858 --> 21:01.858 so it's a much larger population than New York. 21:01.858 --> 21:06.028 And I think that the answer is likely to be the way that 21:06.034 --> 21:10.214 residential population and communities in California are 21:10.208 --> 21:15.368 more closely clustered together than they are in New York state. 21:15.368 --> 21:20.938 So also, what we found that in places like Idaho, 21:20.940 --> 21:25.290 Wyoming, and Alaska that it's very common for kids to spend 21:25.285 --> 21:27.065 two, three, hours a day on buses, 21:27.068 --> 21:28.688 as opposed to here in Connecticut, 21:28.690 --> 21:31.630 maybe an hour at most, forty-five minutes to an hour. 21:31.630 --> 21:34.420 So the pattern of land use really was driving the pattern 21:34.419 --> 21:37.059 of exposure that varied quite a bit state by state. 21:37.058 --> 21:41.348 And one other aspect of this that was important was that kids 21:41.349 --> 21:45.049 that have disabilities, and they might be disabled for 21:45.045 --> 21:47.305 a whole array of different reasons, 21:47.308 --> 21:50.848 but kids that are disabled are often bussed to regional 21:50.847 --> 21:53.297 districts, regional school systems, 21:53.298 --> 21:55.828 that have very specialized expertise. 21:55.828 --> 21:58.798 So on average, kids with disabilities that are 21:58.798 --> 22:02.358 moved around to benefit from the specialized expertise, 22:02.358 --> 22:05.458 they experience a higher level of exposure. 22:05.460 --> 22:08.780 Some kids spend three or four hours per day going back and 22:08.778 --> 22:10.988 forth between these control centers. 22:10.990 --> 22:14.600 And I mentioned earlier in the term that I got a call from a 22:14.603 --> 22:18.033 woman in Alaska who wondered about her child who was only 22:18.031 --> 22:21.831 three years old who she put just behind the driver's seat. 22:21.829 --> 22:23.259 She was the driver of the bus. 22:23.259 --> 22:26.679 The child was asthmatic, and she was having trouble 22:26.682 --> 22:29.562 controlling the asthma with medications. 22:29.558 --> 22:32.378 And she wondered whether or not the school bus might be a 22:32.384 --> 22:32.894 problem. 22:32.890 --> 22:34.890 So I asked her, "Well, how long is your 22:34.894 --> 22:35.644 daily routine? 22:35.640 --> 22:37.650 How long does your child spend on the bus?" 22:37.650 --> 22:39.130 And it was eight and a half hours per day. 22:39.130 --> 22:43.200 So that thinking about these high-end exposures and which 22:43.199 --> 22:47.559 groups in the population might be susceptible is an important 22:47.558 --> 22:48.938 aspect of this. 22:48.940 --> 22:53.280 So just one other thing that was interesting in terms of 22:53.277 --> 22:54.457 study design. 22:54.460 --> 22:57.590 And again, in terms of sampling strategy, first of all, 22:57.593 --> 23:00.963 we were monitoring individual kids and individual buses. 23:00.960 --> 23:04.740 And I just want to reinforce again the importance of thinking 23:04.739 --> 23:08.059 about sampling strategy, and remember the little 23:08.060 --> 23:12.500 200-mile radius from the Nevada test site when the Atomic Energy 23:12.501 --> 23:16.451 Commission set up their sampling design in that way, 23:16.450 --> 23:18.660 and how everybody was fooled into thinking that those 23:18.657 --> 23:20.397 particles wouldn't go beyond that area. 23:20.400 --> 23:25.710 There's another defect in scientific thinking that led to 23:25.711 --> 23:26.851 confusion. 23:26.848 --> 23:29.668 In this case, we really didn't understand 23:29.673 --> 23:33.843 whether or not the level of pollution that we were measuring 23:33.837 --> 23:38.727 was coming from inside the bus, from other traffic, 23:38.731 --> 23:41.581 or from other sources. 23:41.578 --> 23:45.388 And recall the other day I said within Connecticut we burn three 23:45.391 --> 23:48.661 times as much diesel fuel indoors to heat our buildings 23:48.656 --> 23:51.376 compared to what's emitted from vehicles. 23:51.380 --> 23:55.510 So it was very important to us to get a sense of what was 23:55.505 --> 23:57.785 actually coming out of a bus. 23:57.788 --> 24:01.128 So we set up a separate experimental bus route in a very 24:01.132 --> 24:04.232 rural part of Connecticut that was far away from any 24:04.230 --> 24:07.820 residential unit or any other source of carbon that we could 24:07.816 --> 24:10.976 think of other than carbon that's kind of moving long 24:10.976 --> 24:13.646 distance and existing at low levels. 24:13.650 --> 24:17.520 So we would look at our meters and see that the levels were 24:17.519 --> 24:20.449 close to zero, and this was reflected also in 24:20.453 --> 24:22.993 the state's monitoring facilities. 24:22.990 --> 24:25.490 And then we turned the buses on. 24:25.490 --> 24:29.030 And we saw an immediate jump in the particulate count and also 24:29.031 --> 24:32.401 in the BOC emissions within the buses after we did that. 24:32.400 --> 24:35.830 We also saw a couple of interesting patterns. 24:35.828 --> 24:37.478 And my daughter, for example, 24:37.480 --> 24:38.780 was on a school bus. 24:38.779 --> 24:43.009 She was picked up near my house and she was taken to school. 24:43.009 --> 24:45.969 And there's this increase in concentration, 24:45.973 --> 24:47.883 which is kind of curious. 24:47.880 --> 24:51.350 And then as she got to a school where she got off the bus for 24:51.347 --> 24:54.007 about ten minutes or five minutes until she was 24:54.007 --> 24:55.797 transferred to another bus. 24:55.798 --> 24:59.388 She walked about fifty yards away from the bus and then got 24:59.385 --> 25:02.655 back on the next bus and it picked her up and took her 25:02.663 --> 25:04.213 eventually to school. 25:04.210 --> 25:08.520 So this was a pretty good demonstration that the air 25:08.522 --> 25:12.922 quality within the bus itself was a serious source of 25:12.920 --> 25:14.020 exposure. 25:14.019 --> 25:18.139 We also found kind of curiously if we looked at kind of the 25:18.137 --> 25:22.607 horizontal movement and we also looked at the behavioral pattern 25:22.611 --> 25:26.871 that we could figure out that elevation change across a route 25:26.872 --> 25:30.632 made a difference in the particle level within the bus 25:30.634 --> 25:31.634 cabin. 25:31.630 --> 25:33.500 So as a bus went uphill, it's under load, 25:33.500 --> 25:38.370 it produces more pollution, emissions are quite a bit 25:38.373 --> 25:43.813 higher both for BOCs as well as for the small particles. 25:43.808 --> 25:47.248 In fact, I was coming to work the other day in traffic, 25:47.252 --> 25:51.022 and there was a truck next to me and the truck was using his 25:51.016 --> 25:52.416 engine as a brake. 25:52.420 --> 25:55.520 So we would accelerate in traffic, and I was right behind 25:55.523 --> 25:57.253 this bus, accelerate in traffic, 25:57.250 --> 25:59.470 I could see the dark black smoke coming out, 25:59.470 --> 26:01.740 meaning the engine is under load and it's not operating very 26:01.740 --> 26:02.280 efficiently. 26:02.278 --> 26:05.588 And then the traffic in front of the truck would slow down and 26:05.587 --> 26:08.027 he would use his engine to brake the truck. 26:08.028 --> 26:10.458 It was under load again, and then you see the black 26:10.460 --> 26:11.530 smoke come up again. 26:11.528 --> 26:14.578 So remember that a cruising speed at about sixty-five, 26:14.578 --> 26:17.468 seventy miles an hour is the most efficient level of 26:17.471 --> 26:20.251 combustion for most diesel trucks and vehicles. 26:20.250 --> 26:22.640 And by the way, I don't think I mentioned this 26:22.641 --> 26:24.771 the other day, there are about 90 million 26:24.767 --> 26:27.847 diesel trucks and vehicles in the United States today. 26:27.848 --> 26:31.328 So this problem is much bigger than just the 600,000 school 26:31.328 --> 26:33.848 buses that I'm looking at in this study. 26:33.848 --> 26:37.828 We also found that if we compared the level of exposure 26:37.826 --> 26:41.726 to the kids on the bus inside the cabin to the federal 26:41.729 --> 26:44.179 standard, that they were experiencing 26:44.175 --> 26:46.165 levels that were quite a bit higher, 26:46.170 --> 26:50.780 sometimes twenty to twenty-five times higher for short periods 26:50.775 --> 26:51.525 of time. 26:51.529 --> 26:54.259 And then we found this kind of a curious thing, 26:54.259 --> 26:57.939 that an idling vehicle collects more pollution inside the cabin 26:57.936 --> 26:59.476 than a moving vehicle. 26:59.480 --> 27:02.220 So there's a ventilation process that occurs when a 27:02.218 --> 27:05.728 vehicle moves, unless the vehicle is moving in 27:05.732 --> 27:10.572 a train of buses that are coming into a school or leaving a 27:10.566 --> 27:11.396 school. 27:11.400 --> 27:14.520 By the way, most vehicles have no filtration system. 27:14.519 --> 27:18.919 Most trucks and buses have no filtration system for the air in 27:18.919 --> 27:20.289 the indoor cabin. 27:20.288 --> 27:22.368 And by the way, if you get to the point where 27:22.368 --> 27:24.898 you want to buy a new car, I would really encourage you to 27:24.900 --> 27:26.700 think carefully about the relative quality of air 27:26.695 --> 27:27.215 filtration. 27:27.220 --> 27:29.960 There are some vehicles now, the Japanese vehicles started 27:29.963 --> 27:31.893 to put filtration equipment in first, 27:31.890 --> 27:35.470 but it makes a significant difference to the quality of the 27:35.468 --> 27:36.268 indoor air. 27:36.269 --> 27:39.389 You can test that in a kind of an interesting way with respect 27:39.394 --> 27:40.884 to particulates and carbon. 27:40.880 --> 27:44.130 You can just take your finger, don't clean your dashboard for 27:44.131 --> 27:47.101 six months for example, and then just take your finger 27:47.099 --> 27:50.169 and wipe it across and you'll pick up a variety of particles 27:50.169 --> 27:53.079 that will come in because the interior cabin is so poorly 27:53.080 --> 27:53.810 filtered. 27:53.808 --> 27:58.018 So this idling issue prompted us to think well one no brainer 27:58.017 --> 28:02.287 as a policy response would be to try to get the bus drivers to 28:02.294 --> 28:05.804 shut their engines off while they were idling. 28:05.798 --> 28:08.888 This was a much harder problem to crack with respect to trucks. 28:08.890 --> 28:12.700 Because trucks today are commonly on, 28:12.700 --> 28:17.170 their ignition is switched on twenty-four hours a day because 28:17.172 --> 28:21.722 the engine itself is providing electricity through a generator 28:21.718 --> 28:23.878 to refrigerate the cargo. 28:23.880 --> 28:27.130 But it's also providing electricity for the main cabin. 28:27.130 --> 28:30.840 And for some long-distance haulers, especially independent 28:30.835 --> 28:34.015 operators, they basically live in their trucks. 28:34.019 --> 28:37.359 They will pull over to the side of a McDonald's and sleep for 28:37.359 --> 28:38.529 six or eight hours. 28:38.529 --> 28:40.049 Or they'll pull into a trucks stop, 28:40.048 --> 28:42.998 and most truck stops are not equipped with these electronic 28:42.997 --> 28:46.047 outlets so that they could plug their truck in and turn their 28:46.047 --> 28:46.807 engine off. 28:46.808 --> 28:51.018 So they're burning fuel almost twenty-four hours and idling. 28:51.019 --> 28:56.399 And the level of emissions are higher in the engine while it's 28:56.395 --> 28:57.185 idling. 28:57.190 --> 29:00.420 But also, I think that the truck drivers' exposure is 29:00.415 --> 29:02.335 really quite a serious issue. 29:02.338 --> 29:06.298 So we also found that the filtration equipment in these 29:06.300 --> 29:09.970 buses that were built in year 2000 was so poor, 29:09.970 --> 29:13.320 it virtually was large enough, the little spaces in the air 29:13.316 --> 29:16.886 filter were large enough so that you could stick a pencil point 29:16.894 --> 29:17.764 through it. 29:17.759 --> 29:21.919 So clearly, it wasn't going to give any protection at all for 29:21.921 --> 29:25.391 low-diameter particular matter, PM 10 or PM 2.5. 29:25.390 --> 29:28.580 So there are a variety of factors here that you can read 29:28.578 --> 29:31.188 that influence the degree of concentration. 29:31.190 --> 29:33.510 Whether or not the windows or open or whether or not they're 29:33.507 --> 29:34.547 closed, the engine type, 29:34.548 --> 29:35.968 the age of the engine in the bus, 29:35.970 --> 29:41.940 so that older buses are more polluting than newer buses are. 29:41.940 --> 29:45.440 And one curious thing about this was whenever I do a study, 29:45.442 --> 29:48.162 I always assume that I'm going to get sued. 29:48.160 --> 29:51.310 And I was assuming that the large diesel manufacturing 29:51.309 --> 29:54.519 companies were going to give me a pretty rough ride. 29:54.519 --> 29:57.319 And I was really quite surprised, because they wanted 29:57.318 --> 29:58.448 to promote my work. 29:58.450 --> 30:02.200 They were really interested in having this become very common 30:02.200 --> 30:02.950 knowledge. 30:02.950 --> 30:04.670 And why might that be? 30:04.670 --> 30:07.540 Student: Sell new engines. 30:07.539 --> 30:08.559 Prof: Sorry? 30:08.558 --> 30:09.558 Student: Sell new engines. 30:09.558 --> 30:10.918 Prof: Sell new engines, that's exactly the answer. 30:10.920 --> 30:14.480 They were interested in selling new engines that would emit 30:14.476 --> 30:17.846 lower levels of the particles that we were measuring. 30:17.848 --> 30:22.358 And put that idea together with the fact that most trucks have 30:22.357 --> 30:26.637 an active lifespan of three to four million miles and often 30:26.644 --> 30:30.124 thirty to sometimes even thirty-five years. 30:30.118 --> 30:33.188 So they were anxious that the standards be lowered so that 30:33.186 --> 30:34.906 they could sell more vehicles. 30:34.910 --> 30:39.220 So there are a variety of lessons here. 30:39.220 --> 30:42.720 We were also measuring emissions when the vehicles were 30:42.724 --> 30:46.364 using a sulfur content in the fuel that was 500 parts per 30:46.359 --> 30:47.139 million. 30:47.140 --> 30:50.280 And remember I told you the other day that now the ultra-low 30:50.280 --> 30:53.370 sulfur fuels are available and in use as a requirement, 30:53.368 --> 30:57.598 completely phased in in the nation as well as particle traps 30:57.598 --> 31:01.468 that will take out some of the compounds of concern. 31:01.470 --> 31:04.760 Now as you're thinking about this as a policy problem and 31:04.762 --> 31:08.412 you're thinking about it with respect to the Clean Air Act, 31:08.410 --> 31:11.740 you should also think about different parts of the country 31:11.740 --> 31:15.540 that are either within or out of compliance with air standards. 31:15.538 --> 31:20.178 So these exposures that are being experienced by kids or the 31:20.184 --> 31:24.524 drivers, they're coming on top of background air quality 31:24.516 --> 31:25.536 problems. 31:25.538 --> 31:27.798 In other words, if you look here in 31:27.801 --> 31:30.541 Connecticut, you see that we are, 31:30.538 --> 31:33.578 the southern part of Connecticut, 31:33.578 --> 31:36.478 we are in an orange, where we're exceeding the 31:36.477 --> 31:38.277 eight-hour ozone standard. 31:38.279 --> 31:41.889 And we were also, when we were doing the study, 31:41.894 --> 31:45.984 exceeding the particulate matter standard as well. 31:45.980 --> 31:50.320 So that on a day like this, you get many of the particles 31:50.316 --> 31:52.636 being rained out of the air. 31:52.640 --> 31:55.140 But on a still, humid day in the middle of the 31:55.144 --> 31:58.214 summer, you're going to get a very high level background 31:58.205 --> 32:00.595 ambient-- it's called ambient exposure. 32:00.598 --> 32:05.128 So that these within-the-bus exposures or, 32:05.130 --> 32:08.850 you can imagine other kinds of pollutants in your daily life, 32:08.848 --> 32:11.778 are coming on top of this background level of exposure. 32:11.778 --> 32:16.668 I was also quite surprised to find that diesel particles are 32:16.673 --> 32:20.243 measurable in any building in the nation. 32:20.240 --> 32:24.030 There's an ambient background of diesel particles even in this 32:24.032 --> 32:27.332 room as we were able to discern just the other day. 32:27.328 --> 32:30.418 But I can't smell diesel exhaust in the room today, 32:30.416 --> 32:33.686 but if you had the latest and most sensitive detection 32:33.690 --> 32:35.790 equipment, you could smell it. 32:35.788 --> 32:38.338 So we're all experiencing this background level of exposure. 32:38.338 --> 32:41.788 So one way of thinking about it is how many hours on the bus is 32:41.790 --> 32:44.520 going to lead to what kind of a total exposure? 32:44.519 --> 32:49.699 And so if the blue here is representative of the background 32:49.702 --> 32:53.562 level of exposure, maybe seventeen, 32:53.557 --> 32:59.487 eighteen micrograms per cubic meter of PM 2.5, 32:59.490 --> 33:02.760 then these other bus exposures in the colored segments are 33:02.755 --> 33:04.125 coming on top of that. 33:04.130 --> 33:06.480 So if you look way over on the right, 33:06.480 --> 33:09.100 for a child that's on a bus for three hours, 33:09.098 --> 33:13.448 they would be experiencing the level of pollution that would be 33:13.445 --> 33:16.035 twice what the federal standard is. 33:16.038 --> 33:19.578 So as you're thinking about how to create a health-protective 33:19.580 --> 33:21.890 standard, you need to think about these 33:21.886 --> 33:25.026 ambient average background levels that are being picked up 33:25.026 --> 33:27.776 and measured by the fixed monitoring equipment. 33:27.778 --> 33:30.918 But also think about just how daily behavior leads people to 33:30.915 --> 33:32.825 be exposed in very different ways. 33:32.828 --> 33:37.808 Now, also, it's curious that the European Union is moving 33:37.806 --> 33:42.596 much more rapidly to promote diesel vehicles and diesel 33:42.604 --> 33:44.974 engines, predominately to reduce 33:44.965 --> 33:46.325 CO_2 emissions. 33:46.328 --> 33:50.418 So that diesel now represents about twenty percent of the 33:50.419 --> 33:54.099 Europeans' passenger fleet, whereas in the United States, 33:54.102 --> 33:56.112 it represents less than three percent. 33:56.108 --> 33:59.308 So that it presents a real dilemma to think through do we 33:59.313 --> 34:02.923 want to reduce CO_2 or do we want to be more concerned 34:02.915 --> 34:06.515 about lowering the level of exposure to these particulates? 34:06.519 --> 34:12.729 So these kinds of questions can lead to policy recommendations. 34:12.730 --> 34:15.800 And for any kind of a problem, I want to encourage you to 34:15.800 --> 34:18.650 think about first of all, what's the right target for 34:18.652 --> 34:19.642 your proposal? 34:19.639 --> 34:22.319 Is it the federal government, state government, 34:22.315 --> 34:23.475 local governments? 34:23.480 --> 34:27.800 Would it be voluntary standards that you might encourage to the 34:27.797 --> 34:31.067 corporations that manufacture these products? 34:31.070 --> 34:36.180 Or what could you recommend to an individual to reduce their 34:36.177 --> 34:37.647 exposure today? 34:37.650 --> 34:39.800 Kind of curiously, in response to that last 34:39.804 --> 34:42.344 question, many parents responded to this 34:42.338 --> 34:45.728 study that got much more publicity than it deserved in 34:45.726 --> 34:48.026 terms of the investment in money. 34:48.030 --> 34:53.660 This study cost about probably 30 to $35,000 to do. 34:53.659 --> 34:57.249 But people all over the country stopped driving their kids to 34:57.253 --> 34:59.053 school, which was a problem. 34:59.050 --> 35:03.070 So I had to come up with some press releases that demonstrated 35:03.067 --> 35:07.017 that congestion at some schools was increasing because people 35:07.018 --> 35:09.848 were not putting their kids on the bus. 35:09.849 --> 35:14.359 And it was also increasing the risk of injury from accidents at 35:14.360 --> 35:15.380 the schools. 35:15.380 --> 35:19.690 So that driving your kids to school is not the right answer. 35:19.690 --> 35:23.310 You get many more vehicles arriving at the school, 35:23.307 --> 35:27.517 creating pollution that would be higher than what would be 35:27.516 --> 35:29.286 coming from the bus. 35:29.289 --> 35:32.919 So recommendations to the federal government, 35:32.916 --> 35:37.036 retrofit diesel buses to ensure lower emissions. 35:37.039 --> 35:38.519 Put particle traps on them. 35:38.518 --> 35:41.878 And as the film segment showed, that's expensive. 35:41.880 --> 35:44.570 That costs about $6,000 per vehicle to do. 35:44.570 --> 35:46.550 And it's an important issue. 35:46.550 --> 35:49.970 And some of the states and the federal government have really 35:49.974 --> 35:51.864 stepped up in response to this. 35:51.860 --> 35:53.990 So who's going to pay for this? 35:53.989 --> 35:57.279 Well, it's interesting that so far, 35:57.280 --> 36:00.230 I've been keeping track of what the state expenditures have been 36:00.233 --> 36:02.583 and what the federal government's expenditures have 36:02.577 --> 36:02.997 been. 36:03.000 --> 36:06.380 And right now, we're close to a half a billion 36:06.376 --> 36:10.196 dollars that's been spent on school bus retrofits or 36:10.202 --> 36:14.282 substituting the lower emitting, newer engines for the older 36:14.284 --> 36:14.724 engines. 36:14.719 --> 36:18.399 So that requiring the buses to use ultra-low sulfur fuel at the 36:18.400 --> 36:22.200 time the study came out was a really important recommendation. 36:22.199 --> 36:26.209 Five hundred parts per million of sulfur as opposed to fifteen 36:26.206 --> 36:29.026 parts per million of sulfur produces a much, 36:29.030 --> 36:31.920 much higher level of particulate matter. 36:31.920 --> 36:35.370 So testing tailpipe emissions, it's kind of interesting that 36:35.373 --> 36:38.773 we have to have our cars tested for tailpipe emissions, 36:38.768 --> 36:41.218 but trucks and buses generally do not. 36:41.219 --> 36:44.129 So that they are exempt. 36:44.130 --> 36:48.860 In fact, they can be pulled over on the highway and they can 36:48.856 --> 36:52.936 be asked by a Department of Environmental Protection 36:52.942 --> 36:57.752 employee working for the state to turn their engine on, 36:57.750 --> 37:00.700 and they will hold what's called a Ringelmann Chart up 37:00.697 --> 37:03.867 against it that gives them different levels of opacity. 37:03.869 --> 37:06.929 And they'll hold that up against the sky and visually try 37:06.931 --> 37:10.051 to compare the darkness of the emissions to their chart to 37:10.047 --> 37:13.107 figure out whether or not they think that the truck is in 37:13.110 --> 37:14.040 compliance. 37:14.039 --> 37:16.579 Well, this is not the right way to go. 37:16.579 --> 37:20.489 There should be a much more intense and precise estimate 37:20.489 --> 37:24.679 that we have the technology available to conduct those kinds 37:24.682 --> 37:26.462 of emissions testing. 37:26.460 --> 37:30.630 So the other thing to think here that is important on this 37:30.630 --> 37:33.410 list is that the federal standards, 37:33.409 --> 37:36.309 the fifteen micrograms per cubic meter, 37:36.309 --> 37:41.429 that is assuming a safe level, what the safe threshold would 37:41.434 --> 37:44.914 be with respect to outdoor pollution, 37:44.909 --> 37:48.039 not with respect to within-vehicle pollution or 37:48.043 --> 37:51.453 other indoor sources being added on top of that. 37:51.449 --> 37:54.459 So my belief is that these federal standards are not health 37:54.463 --> 37:57.113 protective because they basically are looking at the 37:57.112 --> 38:00.282 problem as one source at a time or just measuring what's going 38:00.282 --> 38:03.242 on in the outdoor environment and forgetting that we spend 38:03.244 --> 38:05.844 ninety percent of our time either indoors or within 38:05.842 --> 38:06.832 vehicles. 38:06.829 --> 38:10.949 So we also clearly need to expand the monitoring network. 38:10.949 --> 38:14.339 And the idea that we're getting our image of the intensity of 38:14.340 --> 38:17.450 this kind of a problem by just relying on fixed monitors 38:17.447 --> 38:20.067 outdoors, it really makes little sense. 38:20.070 --> 38:22.830 So putting monitors on individuals and then following 38:22.831 --> 38:25.901 through their daily life, that's going to give you a much 38:25.903 --> 38:28.973 more accurate representation of really what your exposure and 38:28.971 --> 38:29.841 risk might be. 38:29.840 --> 38:32.510 So this is a very expensive alternative. 38:32.510 --> 38:35.010 But it's likely to be the wave of the future. 38:35.010 --> 38:38.750 So a second target for this study has been state 38:38.746 --> 38:39.856 governments. 38:39.860 --> 38:43.110 So what could state governments do that the federal government 38:43.110 --> 38:43.910 could not do? 38:43.909 --> 38:47.629 Well, they could prohibit school bus idling by statute. 38:47.630 --> 38:50.220 And in fact, when this study came out, 38:50.219 --> 38:53.789 we proposed a law in Connecticut that would demand a 38:53.789 --> 38:56.589 maximum of three minutes for idling. 38:56.590 --> 38:59.720 And since we did that, there are twenty-six other 38:59.715 --> 39:02.445 states that have adopted this same idea. 39:02.449 --> 39:04.519 Save fuel as well as reduce pollution. 39:04.518 --> 39:07.448 So it's kind of a double-win situation. 39:07.449 --> 39:13.669 Also, requiring more buses to drive shorter distances is 39:13.670 --> 39:17.630 another way of reducing exposure. 39:17.630 --> 39:22.770 So when most school districts, like we're seeing today with 39:22.771 --> 39:27.561 respect to declining state grants and federal grants to 39:27.559 --> 39:30.639 school districts, what are they doing? 39:30.639 --> 39:34.379 They're using fewer buses and they're putting the kids on the 39:34.378 --> 39:36.558 buses for longer periods of time. 39:36.559 --> 39:38.709 So the routes are actually going in the wrong direction, 39:38.713 --> 39:39.893 leading to higher exposures. 39:39.889 --> 39:42.779 And finally, local governments are really 39:42.777 --> 39:46.097 responsible for enforcing these idling bans. 39:46.099 --> 39:50.429 And we found in a couple of follow-up studies that there's 39:50.431 --> 39:54.391 about a fifty-five to seventy-five percent compliance 39:54.385 --> 39:57.305 rate for no idling, particularly at schools. 39:57.309 --> 40:00.029 When we did the study, all the buses would pull up and 40:00.027 --> 40:03.147 they'd idle while the kids got on the buses or they would idle 40:03.153 --> 40:05.823 as the kids got off the buses to go into school. 40:05.820 --> 40:07.850 But now, it's quite interesting. 40:07.849 --> 40:11.409 The monitors here turned out not to be people that worked for 40:11.405 --> 40:13.005 the government, but instead, 40:13.007 --> 40:14.427 the school teachers. 40:14.429 --> 40:17.959 Because the school teachers have long been angry, 40:17.960 --> 40:20.450 I hadn't understood this, but they were angry at the way 40:20.454 --> 40:23.134 that the emissions were making their way into the school. 40:23.130 --> 40:27.030 And we found that many school systems had their ventilation 40:27.032 --> 40:31.072 systems set up so that they were pulling the air from the bus 40:31.068 --> 40:33.288 loading area into the school. 40:33.289 --> 40:37.049 And I had one superintendent tell me that she always knew 40:37.050 --> 40:40.690 when the buses were arriving, even though she was 250 yards 40:40.690 --> 40:43.470 away from where they were arriving on the other side of 40:43.465 --> 40:46.385 the complex because the air ventilation system was picking 40:46.393 --> 40:49.583 it up and redistributing it throughout the entire school. 40:49.579 --> 40:53.329 So just kind of thinking about building design as well is 40:53.327 --> 40:54.127 important. 40:54.130 --> 40:58.060 Also, in my own town, in response to this, 40:58.059 --> 40:59.549 because we did some of the testing in the town, 40:59.550 --> 41:02.370 when the town built a new school two years ago, 41:02.369 --> 41:04.859 it decided to create a staging area, 41:04.860 --> 41:07.710 a separate parking facility where buses could go. 41:07.710 --> 41:10.510 And instead of all the buses training in at the same time or 41:10.510 --> 41:13.380 all leaving at the same time, they could stagger it, 41:13.375 --> 41:16.305 so that when one bus is following another bus, 41:16.309 --> 41:19.859 it's simply going to be picking up the exhaust and distributing 41:19.862 --> 41:20.152 it. 41:20.150 --> 41:24.320 So I wanted to give you just a sense of a couple of kind of air 41:24.318 --> 41:27.678 quality problems that you may not have heard of. 41:27.679 --> 41:29.029 This one was new to me. 41:29.030 --> 41:34.250 There was a CNN reporter whose beat is the Pentagon who called 41:34.248 --> 41:39.208 me the other day and he said, "Can you help me out? 41:39.210 --> 41:43.040 Can you help me understand what the threat is to people in the 41:43.039 --> 41:45.489 military from open-pit burning?" 41:45.489 --> 41:49.539 Open-pit burning of garbage right now is prohibited in the 41:49.536 --> 41:52.586 United States, although many people do it in 41:52.590 --> 41:53.940 their backyard. 41:53.940 --> 41:57.410 And open-pit burning is the primary source of emission of 41:57.405 --> 41:59.135 dioxins to the atmosphere. 41:59.139 --> 42:03.089 So people on the right-hand side of this in a barrel will 42:03.094 --> 42:05.204 stuff their garbage, their waste, 42:05.202 --> 42:07.382 into it and just burn it instead of having to pay for a 42:07.375 --> 42:08.135 trash collector. 42:08.139 --> 42:11.219 So you might save a hundred dollars per month if you did 42:11.217 --> 42:11.607 this. 42:11.610 --> 42:16.460 So that what's coming out is a product of very low-temperature 42:16.456 --> 42:21.136 combustion which is perfect for the formation of dioxins and 42:21.144 --> 42:22.024 furans. 42:22.018 --> 42:24.758 And dioxins, some of the congeners are known 42:24.757 --> 42:28.507 to be the most carcinogenic substances that we are now aware 42:28.514 --> 42:28.964 of. 42:28.960 --> 42:33.020 So that also you could think about how pollution would kind 42:33.018 --> 42:37.288 of gather on the surface nearby, could gather on foods or 42:37.291 --> 42:40.351 vegetable gardens, but also kids playing in a 42:40.347 --> 42:40.877 sandbox. 42:40.880 --> 42:44.530 So this is kind of a surprising source of our exposure to 42:44.530 --> 42:47.400 dioxins that are persistent, bioaccumulative, 42:47.400 --> 42:48.770 and carcinogenic. 42:48.768 --> 42:53.518 There is a lawsuit that is being considered by a group of 42:53.516 --> 42:58.516 those in the air force that were responsible for maintaining 42:58.518 --> 43:00.298 these trash pits. 43:00.300 --> 43:02.610 They were responsible to throw the garbage in. 43:02.610 --> 43:04.620 And you can imagine what their exposure would be. 43:04.619 --> 43:07.679 And what is the primary component now of most of our 43:07.679 --> 43:08.159 waste? 43:08.159 --> 43:11.869 Well, it's turning out to be, in terms of spatial volume 43:11.873 --> 43:14.643 rather than weight, it's turning out to be 43:14.641 --> 43:15.521 plastics. 43:15.518 --> 43:18.338 So plastics when they're burned, particularly polyvinyl 43:18.344 --> 43:21.174 chloride, is pretty well recognized to emit dioxins. 43:21.170 --> 43:24.580 We have another phenomena going on in response to higher fossil 43:24.583 --> 43:27.343 fuel prices, especially in the northern 43:27.336 --> 43:30.746 latitudes in the country, and these are would boilers. 43:30.750 --> 43:34.900 People are buying wood boilers and basically not using their 43:34.902 --> 43:38.842 furnaces, their natural gas furnaces or their diesel fuel 43:38.844 --> 43:39.764 furnaces. 43:39.760 --> 43:45.380 So that these burn at a fairly low temperature and they also 43:45.380 --> 43:51.570 emit a variety of pollutants, including most of the particles 43:51.567 --> 43:55.207 in diameters that are quite small, 43:55.210 --> 43:57.970 just like tobacco smoke or like diesel emissions. 43:57.969 --> 44:02.629 And here's just one example of the effect of one household 44:02.634 --> 44:04.684 having one wood burner. 44:04.679 --> 44:08.359 And you can see this is spreading over an area that is 44:08.364 --> 44:12.194 now at this point in the photograph, it's about almost a 44:12.188 --> 44:13.648 half a mile wide. 44:13.650 --> 44:16.990 And the concentration of particulates in this area, 44:16.989 --> 44:19.599 because I've worked on wood smoke, if you can see wood smoke 44:19.597 --> 44:22.297 at this level, the particulate concentrations 44:22.302 --> 44:25.952 are likely to be in the many multiples above that fifteen 44:25.951 --> 44:27.711 microgram federal limit. 44:27.710 --> 44:32.490 So that this is a phenomenon that is increasing in prevalence 44:32.492 --> 44:36.322 and leading to really quite extreme exposures. 44:36.320 --> 44:38.820 I know this firsthand because I have a neighbor that installed 44:38.818 --> 44:39.758 one of these boilers. 44:39.760 --> 44:43.090 And he lives in a valley and I live on the hill above the 44:43.094 --> 44:43.634 valley. 44:43.630 --> 44:47.040 So every morning when the air is still because the sun hasn't 44:47.039 --> 44:50.429 energized the atmosphere, it builds up in the valley, 44:50.425 --> 44:52.815 just like you can see in this case. 44:52.820 --> 44:57.060 It takes the sun to heat the atmosphere, and basically until 44:57.061 --> 45:00.011 about nine or ten o'clock, it elevates. 45:00.010 --> 45:03.200 But our house is filled with wood smoke from his house, 45:03.202 --> 45:04.152 as an example. 45:04.150 --> 45:08.260 And the compounds in wood smoke are just as dangerous as the 45:08.257 --> 45:09.857 compounds in tobacco. 45:09.860 --> 45:13.300 You know, one other kind of idea that a student picked up on 45:13.300 --> 45:16.860 after this lecture a few years ago was the idea of mapping out 45:16.860 --> 45:20.010 healthy routes for exercise in urban environments. 45:20.010 --> 45:23.250 I mean, could you think about what the healthiest route would 45:23.246 --> 45:25.996 be through New Haven to ride your bike or to run? 45:26.000 --> 45:28.190 I mean, you certainly wouldn't want to run, 45:28.190 --> 45:31.140 say, in New York City within Central Park, 45:31.139 --> 45:33.519 where you would have much higher air quality than you 45:33.523 --> 45:35.453 would if you ran, say along the Hudson River 45:35.449 --> 45:35.799 Parkway. 45:35.800 --> 45:39.270 So could you map out the healthiest running route? 45:39.268 --> 45:42.778 And the student did, putting our particle meters on 45:42.777 --> 45:43.617 a bicycle. 45:43.619 --> 45:47.469 And one other thing that I'd like you to think about that 45:47.465 --> 45:51.585 we're not going to have much time to consider is the kinds of 45:51.585 --> 45:56.045 consumer behaviors that can lead to rather intense exposures. 45:56.050 --> 45:59.360 Whether or not it's the plug-in fragrances, the car air 45:59.358 --> 46:03.098 fresheners, and when I saw this, I mean, everybody knows about 46:03.097 --> 46:03.707 these. 46:03.710 --> 46:06.670 But the concept that you're sitting in traffic and you're 46:06.670 --> 46:09.630 really bothered by diesel exhaust so you put up a car air 46:09.630 --> 46:12.590 freshener that's emitting volatile organic compounds that 46:12.590 --> 46:15.920 you may think are more pleasing than the diesel exhaust, 46:15.920 --> 46:20.050 but they are largely untested, they're completely unregulated. 46:20.050 --> 46:23.340 Also, the idea of aromatherapy, not knowing what those 46:23.344 --> 46:24.344 compounds are. 46:24.340 --> 46:28.450 Fragrances, when we talk about plastics next week, 46:28.449 --> 46:32.159 we'll find that there are plasticizers that are hormonally 46:32.161 --> 46:35.551 active in humans and many species of mammals that are 46:35.547 --> 46:39.387 components of some of the most heavily-used fragrances. 46:39.389 --> 46:41.429 And also, laundry detergents. 46:41.429 --> 46:44.149 And many people are experiencing reactions to these 46:44.152 --> 46:44.862 fragrances. 46:44.860 --> 46:47.560 And we're getting them in mixtures that really are not 46:47.561 --> 46:48.481 well understood. 46:48.480 --> 46:52.630 So I'll leave you with that, thinking that as you walk 46:52.626 --> 46:56.306 through your daily life, think about ways you could 46:56.313 --> 47:00.133 modify your behavior in a way that would reduce your exposure. 47:00.130 --> 47:02.260 Thank you very much. 47:02.260 --> 47:09.000