It appears that New Jersey has cleaned up its act—rather, air. A spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced yesterday that every county in New Jersey now falls within federal health standards for fine particle pollution, a microscopic and dangerous type of pollution that can cause respiratory and cardiovascular disease. This is a huge milestone for the state, which has been plagued with poor air quality, especially in highly-industrialized areas.
However, the Sierra Club's state director for New Jersey cautions that
declarations of clean air in the state are premature. Parts of the state still
don’t meet the federal standards for ground level ozone, which can cause health
problems including asthma. There is also controversy as to whether the air monitors
in the state are located in the best places to detect pollution. (This is
always an issue with measuring air pollution, and is brought up frequently in Pittsburgh.) It’s worth noting that although the areas in question are in
compliance with current standards, they likely wouldn’t stand up to future
tighter standards. We suspect that what this announcement means is that New Jersey’s air has improved but, like Pennsylvania's, still has a ways to go.
Though it’s too early to celebrate the defeat of dirty air in New
Jersey, the state can be commended for programs that were initiated
to combat particle pollution by retrofitting diesel vehicles. New Jersey
Governor Chris Christie has also looked outside his state at coal-fired powered
plants located here in Pennsylvania such as the Homer City power plant. Forcing
reductions in out-of-state pollution sources helps the air in New Jersey.
Here’s hoping that Pennsylvania follows suit and is soon able to
declare all of its counties in compliance with air standards—and
not because the monitors are in the wrong place.
