By KATY SAVAGE
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A new report finds that the state made “small but significant progress” in improving its air quality.
The American Lung Association’s 2018 “State of the Air” report also found that the results for New Hampshire are in keeping with a national trend of lower particle pollution levels.
It’s been almost 50 years since the Clean Air Act was passed and the Environmental Protection Agency was created to set air quality standards throughout the nation.
Since then, New Hampshire has stopped monitoring air quality in several cities—partly to cut down on cost, officials said.
While federal funds for monitoring air quality have remained level, costs have risen, officials said.
“Over a period of time, we can’t support it all,” said New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Chief Scientist of Atmospheric Science Jeff Underhill. “We have to make decisions on where we stay.”
The state has about 13 air monitoring locations, down from more than 50 in the early 1980s and 1990s. Maintaining the testing sites costs about $1 million per year in New Hampshire. A monitor at the Lebanon Airport costs the state about $23,000 per year alone, officials said. Most of the money is made of up of federal funds.
There are no air quality monitors in Sullivan or Strafford counties. A monitor in Claremont was shut down in 2008. One in Haverhill was also closed and data from both those sites were combined with a Lebanon Airport monitor.
The state stopped monitoring data at two more testing sites in 2016—one in Portsmouth and one in Concord.
“We have to balance what we have to do with our resources,” said New Hampshire DES Director Craig Wright.
The “State of the Air” report released Wednesday found the number of people exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution increased to more than 133.9 million people throughout the nation, up from 125 million in the 2017 report.
Monitors capture a number of potentially lethal chemicals, including sulfur dioxide, fine particulate matter (like soot or small particles from coal-fired power plants, diesel emissions, wildfires and wood-burning devices), smog, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide.
New Hampshire discontinues monitoring due to the expiration of lease agreements.
The state combines sites when data is similar. While Underhill said the state is “well protected” in the monitoring sites it has maintained, he said they could do more.
“We’re not in every neighborhood,” he said. “Sometimes when it comes down to wood smoke, you need to be in every neighborhood.”
New Hampshire isn’t alone.
Vermont’s air monitors, like New Hampshire’s, don’t capture the entire state.
“In Vermont there are local sources of pollution, particularly from wood smoke and transportation, that aren’t captured by the monitoring stations, including (stations) in the eastern half of the state,” said Vermont American Lung Association Senior Director Rebecca Ryan.
Air is tested in four Vermont cities—Burlington, Bennington, Underhill and Rutland. While Burlington and Bennington received A grades, Rutland received a C in the 2018 “State of the Air” report.
Despite the apparent shortage of testing locations, air quality in both Vermont and New Hampshire is getting better, officials said.
The report found New Hampshire saw “small but significant progress,” with Coos County improving from a D grade to a C for ozone, and Cheshire County improving from a C to a B in particle pollution.
The grades are assigned based on weighted three-year averages.
Meanwhile, Burlington, Vermont was named one of the cleanest cities in the nation.
Ryan, who spoke on behalf of the American Lung Association in Vermont, said there was room for improvement.
“We cannot take air quality for granted,” she said.
Jeff Seyler, the chief division officer of American Lung Association, said the same about New Hampshire.
“The 2018 ‘State of the Air’ report was a hopeful one for New Hampshire, but there are still unhealthful levels of ozone throughout the state that can put our residents at risk for premature death and other serious health effects such as asthma attacks and greater difficulty breathing for those living with a lung disease like COPD,” Seyler said in a press release.
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