Need information on Parkersburg, WV and surrounding areas

[remixedcat]

Wow i knew that. But I moved here from north carolina to be close to my family. NC was nice but too expensive. At least its not as bad as some areas in Russia!

[Two-Rivers]

To add to my previous post:

Five of the top 25 US cities with the dirtiest air are in WV, and no WV cities are on the clean list.

Note on the article below, one newspaper article did state that Wood county improved from an F, to a D, on the clean air score. Though many residents wonder where that air is located.

Article below copied from:
Hur Herald
WV CITIES GET 'F' FOR CLEAN AIR

(04/29/2010)

West Virginia counties have received F's for air quality with five state cities on the report's most polluted list on a new report by the American Lung Association. The 2010 “State of the Air” report ranks areas of the state by ozone and year-round and short-term particle pollution.
Five of the 25 cities in the USA with the worst year-round particle pollution are in West Virginia.
Charleston and the Weirton-Steubenville, Ohio area tied at No. 11; Huntington-Ashland, Ky. was ranked at No. 16; Hagerstown, Md.-Martinsburg was ranked at No. 21; and Parkersburg-Marietta, Ohio, was ranked at No. 25.
The Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, which includes part of West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle, was ranked at No. 16 on the Ozone list.
In West Virginia, Brooke, Hancock, Kanawha and Marshall counties received F’s for particle pollution.
Cabell, Hancock, Kanawha, Monongalia, Ohio and Wood counties received F’s for ozone pollution.
No city in West Virginia or nearby in surrounding states ranked on the report’s Cleanest Cities list.

[kiki_thinking]

so is it that the river valley traps and keeps the particle pollution here, or is it that we have lax standards for permissable levels of pollution, or are factories around here not obeying the regulations we have - what are the reasons behind the high levels here , and who are the worst offenders? just wondering.

[Two-Rivers]

The terrain is probably a factor, but in my opinion the least contributor. We have most weather coming from the west- southwest, with foothills to the east. In warm seasons, the air does hang low in the valley for days, even weeks at a time.

Then we have a state DEP that is reluctant to investigate or enforce. Much of the pollutants come from neighboring Ohio, so in that case enforcement from our side may be difficult. If I recall, Washington county, Ohio was listed as the 1st or 2nd most polluted area in the nation.

Lastly, but probably the largest contributor, we have individuals in a position to control certain emissions but choose to look the other way for various reasons. Maybe it's just easier to take shortcuts to complete a task and keep the plant running or to get it back online. Or the thinking that it's just this one little bit of pollution and nobody will notice it, or that it's always been done this way.

I've seen it myself in shift supervisors operating notes, instructing the next shift to reverse the flow of dust collectors at night when nobody can see the emissions, cheaper and quicker to do that instead of taking a unit down for cleaning. One particular dust collector had a billboard in front of it stating - Arsenic! Health Hazard!

Some plants that caused pollution have been closed, no doubt contributing to the air quality grade rising from an F to a D. The Ames shovel plant operated for 100 years and had high levels of emissions from paint, the plant closure was based on economics, not related to any environmental problems. Just downriver from Ames, the Corning Glass plant was closed, also an economic decision. There have been several other closures.

A family member is having the thyroid removed, the doctor stated the multiple tumors were very likely caused by the C8 in the water.