TodayClean Air Partnership unveils air monitor
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Clean Air Board member Tom Benjey discusses the new EPA-certified air monitor at The Sentinel building Wednesday. Jason Scott/The Sentinel
Two months after announcing a one-of-a-kind air quality collaboration, the Clean Air Partnership of Cumberland County Wednesday unveiled its new EPA-certified air quality monitor at The Sentinel building in Carlisle.
The monitor provides data in real-time on an ongoing basis for PM 2.5, a fine air particulate linked to a variety of heart and lung ailments.
The ceremonial launch was held at The Sentinel, 457 East North St. About 50 people, including members of the medical community, local governnment, Dickinson College and the Penn State Dickinson School of Law and the state Department of Environmental Protection, attended to learn more about the Met One BAM-1020 and see it in action.
State Sen. Pat Vance, R-31, who introduced anti-idling legislation, passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly last month to limit idling of large diesel trucks and buses, was among the first group to get a demonstration of the monitor.
“I think we’ll learn a lot,” Vance said, noting that she has always been interested in the project, considering the area’s poor air quality. “The Clean Air Board (of Central Pennsylvania) has been so wonderful in pushing this forward. I’m very enthusiastic about this project.”
Officials from the Clean Air Board, The Sentinel and Carlisle Regional Medical Center say they formed their partnership “to protect the health of residents living, working, studying and playing in the Greater Carlisle area by providing air quality information that will allow them to make informed decisions about their health.”
Setting the example
“This is not an academic exercise,” said Kevin Stewart of the American Lung Association. “They are trying to provide useful information that people can find on a regular basis and increase their knowledge of how air quality affects them.”
The Clean Air Partnership is a model that other communities across the country with concerns can emulate, he explained. In fact, the endeavor is the only such partnership in the country right now.
“It’s just remarkable and wonderful to be here to witness this kind of thing,” Stewart added after the public unveiling.
In 2007, the Harrisburg-Carlisle-Lebanon area ranked 14th on the ALA’s list of metropolitan areas “most polluted by short-term particle pollution.” Cumberland County ranked No. 17 among counties ranked on short-term particle pollution.
People with heart disease or parents of children with asthma will be able to refer to the monitor readings before going outside to exercise or to avoid the increased risk of an asthma attack when PM 2.5 levels are high.
About half of the population fit into one of the high-risk groups, according to Stewart, which includes people with heart or lung disease, older adults and children.
‘Makes sense’
“Having it here, it makes sense,” Carlisle Councilman Tim Scott said. “I think it’s a win-win.”
Both he and Council President Don Grell said this new tool will be a great resource for the community. It will also be beneficial to the borough as it moves forward with proposed traffic-calming efforts, which include promoting alternative forms of travel downtown that could reduce air and noise pollution, he said.
Limiting truck traffic downtown is also part of that objective.
“The work of the Clean Air Board is very important in council’s deliberation,” Grell said, noting that its initial efforts helped draw attention to this problem. “This helps to justify what’s being done.”
Current estimates show the cost to do the “road diet” work in Carlisle will be about $2.1 million, broken out over three phases and done in multiple years.
The proposal calls for the elimination of two of the four lanes on both High and Hanover streets, while adding dedicated left-turn lanes at every intersection of the two state routes, 5-foot wide bicycle lanes in each direction, curb extensions and traffic signal adjustments at intersections to improve downtown walking.
Additionally, there would be improved sign usage to encourage trucks to travel on Interstate 81 to reach the Pennsylvania Turnpike, instead of going through Carlisle.
