Knox County Air Quality

[Bass Daddy]

Originally Posted by J&Em

Bass Daddy if you didn't like the air on your one visit here I'm not sure why you would even want to continue the search to move here. Seriously, I don't think it is a good match given what has been written in all of your threads. Maybe it is the way you write that makes it sound like you aren't serious about moving here but just looking for a way to bash the area.

I guess you don't know me much then. I loved the area. It's awesome for me. I just need to know how it will effect my mother. And I didn't demand anything. I wanted to know what Tennessee is currently doing about it now. Not what they did years ago. I love fishing and four wheeling. Both are super around Knoxville. It's my match...I sold my house....I went down....scouted and more. I know it isn't great for people with asthma and allergies at times. But I don't know how people with COPD and Emphysema fare there. I've spent a few grand on that trip in the Knoxville area alone just recently. I'd say I'm serious enough. I'll find out more about the health thing from doctors like I said. So please...don't confuse my writing with what I want. I am too busy defending myself here from people as it is.

Originally Posted by J&Em

I used to live in NY and hiked in the Adirondacks (and the Catskills) so I know both places, and their mountains, well. You demanded to know what Knoxville is doing to correct the air problem without using the search feature as recommended. The whole "problem" is not one limited to Knoxville nor is the "pollution" created locally and this has been answered and argued over for years here in city data. The numbers bandied around don't cover the true story.


The Smoky Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains got their names long before industrial pollution caused any visibility changes. The mountains and valleys hold humidity and the trees themselves out-gass more visibly in this more temperate rainforest. I found similar conditions in the Cascades of Oregon, also a temperate rainforest. Added to the more humid conditions we have here, this causes a seemingly preternatural haze that is not pollution. The sheer number and variation of vegetation we have means we also have pollen being released more than in a northern forested area like you have in the northern NY mountains where you have more alpine (dry) conditions. This year it is far worse looking because we received the average rainfall for a whole year before the first half of the year was done. Higher humidity may also account for your "smell" issues since you are not used to a more tropical forest smell. I don't think that is pungent but maybe you meant something else?

Knoxville (and many other towns and cities) lie in a long valley between the Smoky Mountains and and the Cumberland Plateau. This geography works like a catch basin with prevailing winds for air moving from anywhere west of here (from Canada to Mexico depending on the wind directions). Depending on largeer weather systems we have days with gorgeous clear air and days with hazy air as the winds move it in and out of the valley, sometimes the changes will take a week or two and other times within a single day. Inside this valley there is also the confluence of 2 interstates, running together through Knoxville, adding to the problem. Demanding to know what Knoxville is doing to fix it is like asking what Lake Placid is doing to fix acid rain conditions in the northeast all by itself.

Thanks the good information.

I understand what you are saying about the Lake Placid thing but...I did use the search feature...advanced actually. I didn't want to know about 2007! I wanted to know what TENNESSEEE was doing about it currently though. Not just Knoxville.

About the breathing thing...again...I will talk to a doctor soon. The alerts and such only warn of people with allergies or asthma exerting themselves for longer periods of times in a couple months in the summer. So she may not be effected in that case. I don't know how many times I have to explain that I am NOT talking about ASTHMA and ALLERGIES.

We may have much cleaner air here where I live...but this country boy is fed up with NY.

[Bones]

COPD, Emphysema, ASTHMA and ALLERGIES do not fit well with humidity,polution......

Maybe you should look for a higher elevation ¿

One of many searches...


//www.city-data.com/forum/weath...emphysema.html



.

[DubbleT]

Originally Posted by Bass Daddy

I understand what you are saying about the Lake Placid thing but...I did use the search feature...advanced actually. I didn't want to know about 2007! I wanted to know what TENNESSEEE was doing about it currently though. Not just Knoxville.

2007? Do you mean that you are searching for answers as to what TN is doing about the problem on THIS forum? Don't think you'll find a lot of answers here, it's just not the type of subject to come up all that often. For most people wanting to move here the issue IS allergies so that's usually what is discussed.

A very quick google search pulls up a few more recent articles.
Tennessee Air Now Meets Smog Standards, but Needs to Clean Up Toxic Waste -- Environmental Protection
Metropulse.com: The Daily Pulse
Senator Alexander (R-TN) Understands the Need for Clean Air « Pennsylvania Bucket Brigade
I'm sure if you wanted to, you could find more articles addressing your environmental concerns about the air in TN

I do agree with J & EM that this is not just a TN problem and we can't fix it by ourselves
Air Quality - Great Smoky Mountains National Park
This link is about pollution in GSMNP, which since it is located nearby Knoxville pretty much applies to Knoxville and much of east TN also. If you read it you will see that the problem comes from both near and far and it will take a cooperative effort from many states to fix the issue.

[danielj72]

There was a story on the news a few months ago about our improving air quality in east Tennessee. They compared photos of the mountains from 1990 to ones taken today and the distance the Smokys can be seen from has dramatically improved over the years. This is due to the decrease in the amount of air pollution. Do we still have an issue?? yes we do. This area is fighting topography, a large valley with mountains on both sides will trap pollutants very easily, but there has been an improving air situation here over the past ten years. My wife has asthma and she is doing just fine living in this area. Asthma can be triggered by many different things; air quality, allergies, humidity level, radical weather changes or even elevation. Each asthmatic has different triggers so it is different for everyone who has it. If your trigger is radical weather change and you live in Wisconsin, then east Tennessee will be an improvement for you. If your asthma is triggered by allergies and you move to East Tennessee from New Mexico you will likely regret your move. Everyone is different.

[Bass Daddy]

Thanks guys. One would hope that the other states involved would be held accountable and do their share.

Sent from my Galaxy Tab using Tapatalk 2!

[TN Tin Man]

American Lung Association State of the Air 2013 - Knox

http://weather.weatherbug.com/TN/Kno...r-quality.html

http://www.knoxcounty.org/airquality/regulations.php

http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/air-quality.htm

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/ju...-in-knoxville/
The Air Now Link in above link has a interactive link that will give you current information for Eastern TN

[Mari Cone]

People here call it the "bowl" effect. Meaning the mountains deflect and or contain air. No significant wind here from other places, too far from the ocean, industrial pollution, extraordinarily high vegitation seemingly in constant pollination, no emmissions standards. Emission standards aren't likely here anytime soon. The trucking/transportation industry packs huge legislative clout here. Our geographical location and interstate system make us one of the most travelled areas anywhere in the US. You'LLC notice a few things about East TN; cars are NOT optional here. Anywhere else in America has lesser truck thavel than I40 through Knox Co. There is something weird about seeing a huge truck bellowing black smoke like its on fire, against the backdrop of the mountains.

[Bass Daddy]

Thanks Tin Man & Mary. It's hard to believe there are no emissions standards there. A lot of those same trucks have to pass through other states that do have emission standards. Maybe the voters need to hold the elected politicians responsible for turning their heads. Other states have no problems trucking with emissions.

[hiknapster]

If you move here, be prepared to get used to it. Government regulations are not big here and supported by the locals and the people that moved here to flee their nanny states.

[Bass Daddy]

I am no eco hound bud. It don't really bother me. I'll be fishin! You know why I am concerned. I gotta make that call today. Ask a doc down there about mom. I think she'll be fine. Besides...it's getting better from what I am seeing. Slowly....but surely.

Proactive steps, such as the plan to convert UT’s steam plant from a coal-fired operation to natural gas outlined in Gov. Bill Haslam’s yearly budget proposal in January, have highlighted the area’s dedication to reaching the new standard, air officials said.
The conversion will reduce emissions by an amount equal to removing 7,000 cars from the roads.


“It’s going to make a huge impact on the air quality in Knoxville,” said Dave Irvin, associate vice chancellor for facilities services at the University of Tennessee, who noted the coal-powered plant was the second-largest polluter in the area. “It allows us to produce utilities more efficiently and with natural gas being significantly less (in cost) than coal, we can pour that money back into the classrooms.


“It just makes a big difference on a lot of levels.”


Construction on the plant is currently in the design stage, with a tentative completion date of late 2015 or early 2016, according to Irvin.

Yeah buddy!