The station finds continuing problems. He found unhealthy levels of carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide. He found ice skaters and hockey players complaining of headaches, nausea, fatigue, and light-headedness. Those ice-grooming machines called Zambonis , which some rinks run as often as fourteen times a day. The pollutants they emit hang in the air.
Some ice rinks have inadequate ventilation systems, or none at all, to clear the air.
Some that do have ventilation may limit its use as a cost-cutting measure. He developed a wealth of contacts, including a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health who specializes in indoor air quality. It was he who suggested that Ropeik take a look at unhealthy air at Boston ice rinks, based on research he had read from Canada. Ropeik first did some homework. He took a regional air quality expert from the Environmental Protection Agency along to the rinks.