Off one list — 010/13/09 » Editorials » Daily Independent (Ashland, KY)

Editorials

Discussion

October 12, 2009

Off one list — 010/13/09

Quality of Boyd County’s air continues steady improvement

Anonymous The Daily Independent Mon Oct 12, 2009, 05:13 PM EDT

Boyd County’s removal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s non-attainment list for 24-hour fine particulate matter standards does not mean that the quality of this community’s air has improved to the point that it no longer discourages economic development, but it certainly is a step in the right direction. More importantly, it is a clear indication that the quality of our air is improving, and that’s good news for the health of all of us who have to breathe that air.

The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet announced Friday that Boyd and eight other Kentucky counties will be removed from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s non-attainment list for 24-hour fine particulate matter standards. However, the county remains a non-attainment area for annual fine particulate matter standards.

All 120 Kentucky counties now meet the EPA’s 24-hour fine particulate matter standard, the EEC said. The EPA’s decisions to remove the non-attainment designation from those areas is based on the inclusion of 2008 data in a three-year average of particulate matter measurements. Previous designations were based on a three-year average taken from air monitoring data collected between 2005 and 2007.

Kentucky environmental officials touted the news as “continuing proof that Kentucky’s air quality is improving even in the face of ever lowering standards,” said John Lyons, director of the EEC’s Division of Air Quality. “This trend is tremendous news for the thousands of Kentuckians who suffer from cardio and pulmonary diseases.”

While we tend to blame industries for much of this community’s poor air quality, one of biggest sources of local air pollution comes from trucks and automobiles. In fact, Lyons cites raising miles per gallon standards for vehicle engines, along with the production of cleaner burning fuels, as holding the greatest potential for further improving Boyd County’s air quality. Trains and barges also help foul our air and making them more fuel efficient will further improve our air quality.

“We’ve wrung most of what we can get out of the steel mills and the power plants,” Lyons said.

However, Lyons added there are some upcoming additional industrial upgrades — most notably the addition of scrubbers to be in place at Kentucky Power’s Big Sandy Plant near Louisa by 2014 — that will also improve local air quality.

Our air may never be pure and pristine like in some areas, but those of us who have lived here many years can attest to the fact that our air quality is a lot better than it used to be — and it’s getting better all the time.

Text Only

Editorials

Earmarks again?
Immediately, following the midterm elections of 2010 which saw Republicans regain control of the House of Representatives and capture seats in the U.S. Senate, Republican leaders in Congress announced they had heard the voice of the voters and vowed to cease using “earmarks,” the name given to appropriations slipped into bills by influential legislators without a vote.

May 26, 2012
Best in the nation
It may surprise many readers that Newsweek’s “best high school in America” is located right here in Kentucky and is open to selected students throughout the state, but then the Carol Martin Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green is hardly your typical high school. In fact, it would be impossible for even the best public high schools to emulate the amazing success of students at the Gatton Academy.

May 25, 2012
After the vote
We offer today a few reflections on the messages voters sent in Tuesday’s primary election in Kentucky.

May 24, 2012
A mild winter
As we approach the Memorial Day weekend, long hailed as the unofficial start of the summer vacation season, we pause to reflect upon the winter that wasn’t.

May 23, 2012
Devices banned
Emergency breathing devices that tests have proven unreliable are being phased out under a directive issued by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. However, MSHA has given mine operators more than 18 months to remove all the air packs from underground mines.

May 22, 2012
A free weekend
In an effort to promote increased recreational use of the two lakes in the Daniel Boone National Forest, the U.S. Forest Service will offer free fishing and boating during the first weekend in June.

May 22, 2012
Ho-hum election
Psst! Want to know a secret? There’s a primary election Tuesday. And it’s right here in Kentucky! However, there has been so little interest in this election, that Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, the state’s top election official, is predicting that only betwixen 10 and 12 percent of the state’s eligible voters will take the time to go to the polls tomorrow.

May 21, 2012
A real rush job
By giving first reading approval to two identical ordinances creating the Northeast Regional Jail Authority, elected leaders in Boyd and Carter counties are reviving a 30-year-old political issue — only this time with different results.

May 20, 2012
KCTC leads way
The ability of Kentucky to compete with other states and the rest of the world for the good jobs of tomorrow keeps improving by degrees.

May 19, 2012
Slow decline?
Louisville’s Churchill Downs is seeing its shortest spring meets since 1975, and some owners, trainers and breeders fear they could get even shorter. That is unless the Kentucky General Assembly has a change of heart and gives the home of the Kentucky Derby the option of increasing its nonracing revenue by offering new forms of gambling.

May 18, 2012
More Editorials Headlines

Editorials

Search Results

Discussion

Off one list — 010/13/09

Quality of Boyd County’s air continues steady improvement

Site Map

Contact Us