# Presentation: 760146

## Air Toxics and NEPA:Emerging Issues

- Kathryn Sargeant
- U.S. EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality
- Air Toxics Center

## Overview of Presentation

- Background on toxics
- Project-level impacts:  what do we know?
- What analyses are possible?
- What might make sense in NEPA context?

## List of Mobile Source Air Toxics

- *Found in evaporative as well as exhaust emissions.

## Mobile Source Air Toxics

- Emissions

- Exposure

- Health Effects

## Health Effects

- Cancer
- No known “safe” threshold level
- Any exposure increases risk
- Non-cancer (acrolein)
- Upper respiratory irritation and congestion
- PM-2.5 health effects
- Premature death
- Cardiovascular, respiratory, immunological effects

## Toxics Controls

- Existing motor vehicle programs will significantly reduce toxic emissions
- Vehicle, fuel, engine standards
- These are PM and VOC controls
- Toxics reductions are co-benefits
- By 2020, on-highway emissions will be reduced by 67-94% from 1990 levels
- For benzene, formaldehyde, 1,3-butadiene, acetaldehyde, diesel PM

## Project-level Impacts

- Despite good progress at reducing toxics at urban and regional scales...
- We are concerned about high-end exposure and “hot spots”
- “Hot spots” are significantly elevated concentrations of air pollutants
- May exist along roadways

## Evidence of Hot Spot Problem

- Recent studies show elevated concentrations of toxics along roadways
- Benzene
- Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
- Particulate matter
- Recent studies show adverse health effects associated with proximity to roadways

## Benzene Near Roadways

- Benzene and other VOCs are elevated near busy roads
- Patterns in benzene outdoors and indoors track traffic closely (_**next slide**_)

- Fischer et al. (2000)

## Traffic Count / VOC Comparison

- OTAQ Baltimore Project

- VOCs: rush hours
- Morning peak corresponds to low mixing height

- Courtesy T. Buckley, Johns Hopkins SPH

## Why do we care?

- Several recent studies show association between childhood cancers and proximity to roads (or vehicle traffic)
- Pearson et al. (2000)
- Raaschou-Nielsen et al. (2001)
- Harrison et al. (1999)
- Feychting et al. (1997)
- Savitz et al. (1989)

- Ware et al. (1993) indicated increased odds of chronic lower respiratory symptoms with petroleum-related VOCs in children
- Cancer and other health effects of VOCs near roads?

## Impact of Traffic on Indoor PAH

- in Baltimore

- Weekday

- Weekend

- Indoor PAH Conc (ng/m3)

- Indoor PAH Conc (ng/m3)

- _Geometric Mean (ng/m__3__) _

- Urban:            31*
- Semi-Urban:  19*
- Suburban:        8.0*

- _Geometric Mean (ng/m__3__) _

- Urban:            10
- Semi-Urban:    9.8
- Suburban:        4.9*

- Courtesy T. Buckley

## Health Effects of PAHs

- Many are carcinogenic
- Newly published evidence that maternal exposure to PAHs during pregnancy affects birth outcomes
- Low birth weight
- Low birth length
- Smaller head circumference

- New studies show associations between traffic density and birth outcomes
- Pre-term birth
- Low birth weight
**Cancer is not the only issue in air toxics studies!**

## The Roadway Connection

- A Dutch study of 55-69 yr. olds recently found that people living near major roads had 95% greater risk of cardiopulmonary death (Hoek et al., 2002)
- Another study showed associations between PM-2.5 from traffic, cough, respiratory infection, and physician diagnosis of asthma <1 yr age. (Brauer et al., 2002)
- WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?  FIRST CLUE...

## Ultrafine PM number highest near roadways

- Westerdahl, et al. (2002)

- Bunn et al. (2001) found higher amounts of ultrafines in lung cells of children living near major roads in Leicester, UK
- Pekkanen et al. (2002) showed ECG changes in response to ultrafines

## What analyses are possible?

- Emissions
- MOBILE6.2 estimates toxics mg/mi from vehicles
- Air quality (concentrations)
- CALINE, CAL3QHC, ISCST3, CALPUFF
- Exposure
- Sensitive subpopulations (children, elderly)
- EJ
- Risk (except for diesel exhaust)

## Local Air Toxics Modeling

- Portland assessment currently underway
- Coalition of EPA/OTAQ, EPA/OAQPS, Oregon DEQ, Portland METRO

## Portland Emissions Inventory

- Portland METRO used EMME/2 model and MOBILE to produce link-specific inventory

## Portland - Air Quality Results for Ambient Benzene, 8-9 AM

## Limitations of Current Tools

- Can’t answer questions of most interest to individuals and neighborhoods
- What will I personally be breathing as a result of this transportation project, and is it safe?
- Because of...
- Limited spatial resolution of our models
- Limited understanding of hot spot formation and mobile source contribution
- Risk communication issues

## What Makes Sense for NEPA?

- Toxics analysis cannot give bright-line, pass-fail information for decisionmaking
- No ambient standards
- Toxics information potentially useful for:
- Description of environmental impact
- Comparison of alternatives
- Potential mitigation

## What Makes Sense for NEPA?

- Discuss exposed population
- Homes, offices, schools, parks, etc. within x meters of the transportation project
- How many people?
- Who?
- Sensitive subpopulations (children, elderly)
- EJ characteristics

## What Makes Sense for NEPA?

- How does exposed population differ among alternatives?
- Is mitigation feasible?
- Increase distance from sensitive populations
- Cleaner fuel for construction equipment
- Highway fuel or ultra-low sulfur diesel
- Bus retrofits
- Anti-idling
- Transportation demand management

## What Makes Sense for NEPA?

- Perspective on existing toxics risks
- National Air Toxics Assessment for 1996
- www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/nata
- Gives emissions, concentrations, exposure and risk at national/state/county level
- Stationary, area, and mobile sources
- Keep in mind limitations of data:  best at national and state scale
- Summarize any local info on emissions, concentrations, exposure, and/or risk

## Summary

- Increased traffic = increased toxics
- Reducing exposure to toxics is always good
- There is evidence of hot spots and health effects near roadways
- Basic consideration of issue could be useful and appropriate in many cases

## Some Cited Sources

- Bunn, H.J.; Dinsdale, D.; Smith, T.; Grigg, J. (2001) Ultrafine particles in alveolar macrophasges from normal children, Thorax, 56, 932-934.
- Feychting, M.; Svensson, D.; Ahlbom A. (1997) Exposure to motor vehiicle exhaust and childhood cancer.  Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health 24, 8-11.
- Fischer, PH; Hoek, G; van Reeuwijk, H.; et al. (2000) Traffic-related differences in outdoor and indoor concentrations of particles and volatile organic compounds in Amsterdam.  Atmos Environ 34: 3713-3722.
- Harrison, R.M.; Leung, P.M.; Somervaille, L. (1999) Analysis of incidence of childhood cancer in the West Midlands of the United Kingdom in rleation to proximity of main roads and petrol stations.  Occupational and Environmental Medicine 56, 774-780.
- Hoek, G; Brunekreef, B; Goldbohm, S; et al. 2002) Association between mortality and indicators of traff-related air pollution in the Netherlands:  a cohort study.  Lancet 360(9341):1203-1209.
- Janssen, N.A.H.; Schwartz, J; Zanobetti, A.; et al. (2002) Air conditioning and source-specific particles as modifiers of PM10 on hospital admissions for heart and lung disease.  Environ Health Perspect 110(1): 43-49.
- Raaschou-Nielsen, Ole; Hertel, Ole; Thomsen, Birthe L.; Olsen, Jorgen H. (2001) Air pollution from traffic at the residence of children with cancer, American Journal of Epidemiology 153, 5, 433-443
- Pearson, R.L.; Wachtel, H.; and Ebi K.L. (2000) Distance-weighted traffic density in proximity to a home is a risk factor for leukemia and other childhood cancers. J Air Waste Mgmt Assoc 50: 175-180.
- Savitz, D.A.; Feingold, L. (1989) Assocoiation of childhood cancer with residential traffic density.  Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health 15, 360-363.
- Schwartz, J.; Laden, F.; and Zanobetti, A. (2002) The concentration-response relation between PM2.5 and daily deaths.  Environ Health Perspect 110(10): 1025-1029.

## Some Cited Sources (con’t)

- Ware, J.H.; Spengler, J.D.; Neas, L.M.; et al. (1993) Respiratory and irritant health effects of ambient volatile organic compounds.  The Kanawha County Health Study.  Am J Epidemiol 137(12): 1287-1301.
- Wilhelm, Michelle; Ritz, Breate (2003) Residential proximity to traffic and adverse birth outcomes in Los Angeles County, Califronia, 1994-1996, Env. Health Perspectives, 111, 207-216.
- Zhu, Y.; Hinds, W.C.; Kim, S.; et al. (2002) Study of ultrafine particles near a major highway with heavy-duty diesel traffic. Atmos Environ 36: 4323-4335.