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What cities, counties, or areas have good air quality: particle matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides...smog etc.
And what areas are fairly clean air?
Where are the major contributors: coal burning-power plants, industrial areas, etc.
The photos pf WV are so beautiful, and look so green and healthy! It's such a shame that some areas hold so much pollution, and I know that mountainous areas can 'hold' particles longer sometimes. I checked out a few cities, and they had higher Sulfur Dioxide, but I couldn't find a generalized map or anything that charted it out.
I believe Charleston has pretty poor air quality, due to all of the industry
I'd say the best would be in the great wilderness of WV!
Have to agree about Charleston, 20 years ago your eyes would start burning 30 miles out coming down 77 or 79 after a weeks hunting! Can't imagine it has gotten better since.
Actually it may have been worse in the past, anyone old enough to remember when one of the plants released 'something' that killed all the trees between Kanawha City and Marmet? Sometime in the 50's. For years there were hundreds of dead trees behind the RR tracks! 61/94 paralleled the river before they built the Turnpike and moved it back.
Lived in South Charleston (on the hill behind the plant) for several (15) years, having to sweep the crud off the car every morning, and paint the house every other year was a PITA! We used to joke about needing a daily dose of chemicals. Not really a joke, there were some mornings you literally couldn't breathe, usually on weekends when I guess, EPA wasn't on the job, great time for releases!
I know, I know, 'officially' it doesn't happen, and 'maybe' it doesn't now, but it was my eyes tearing up, and my lungs hacking up phlegm for a hour on Sunday mornings. The Hardys breakfast crowd sounded like a TB ward! I haven't even had a cold in the 8 years since I moved to FL! go figgure
Shame, since otherwise it was the best town I've ever lived in.
Anywhere!
Have to agree about Charleston, 20 years ago your eyes would start burning 30 miles out coming down 77 or 79 after a weeks hunting! Can't imagine it has gotten better since.
Actually it may have been worse in the past, anyone old enough to remember when one of the plants released 'something' that killed all the trees between Kanawha City and Marmet? Sometime in the 50's. For years there were hundreds of dead trees behind the RR tracks! 61/94 paralleled the river before they built the Turnpike and moved it back.
Lived in South Charleston (on the hill behind the plant) for several (15) years, having to sweep the crud off the car every morning, and paint the house every other year was a PITA! We used to joke about needing a daily dose of chemicals. Not really a joke, there were some mornings you literally couldn't breathe, usually on weekends when I guess, EPA wasn't on the job, great time for releases!
I know, I know, 'officially' it doesn't happen, and 'maybe' it doesn't now, but it was my eyes tearing up, and my lungs hacking up phlegm for a hour on Sunday mornings. The Hardys breakfast crowd sounded like a TB ward! I haven't even had a cold in the 8 years since I moved to FL! go figgure
Shame, since otherwise it was the best town I've ever lived in.
Anywhere!
Yeah I don't think its that bad now, because the EPA has really steped in, and locals don't really notice it. I go to WVSU right near the Bayor Crop Science Plant and some of the of state students complain about the plant, but I really can't tell.
Most of the 'real air pollution is caused by people mowing their lawns and spewing grasses and decaying plant matter into the air.
When West Virginia was a wooded wilderness the indians and early settlers would have "Wood Burns and create new, lush undergrowth for the forest animals to eat.
We now have the Kubota, John Deere and Cub Cadet machinery to churn the grass land and create a fog of mold and decay.
It is causing a lot of respiratory work for the medical community and creating jobs in the process.
I'm sure the 'Treehuggers have pending legislation that will outlaw these mowing practices and let mother nature take over.
(They have done that in the west and mother nature takes care of the present day wood burns there...)
My mind wanders to the frequent power outages that are caused by our present narrow right of ways...now, the trees can fall and take down the powerlines at random...we have less electric service in the winter but who needs it anyway? right?
We actually have good air quality in Morgantown since our town is not predicated on heavy industry. The pollution that does exist is due to the fact that state government won't get off their collective @ses and build us the roads and infrastructure we need to keep up with our growing population, so we have traffic issues here.
Parkersburg and Huntington are always in that American Lung Association most polluted cities list.
The Parkersburg/Wood county area is definitely high on the list. Has been ranked high nationally in polluted air for quite some time. This is partially due to industry on the Ohio side of the river, but much is created in-state as well.
I just can't understand why, with all the Marcellus Shale activity going on, the unemployment rate in Marshall-Wetzel-Tyler is amongst the highest in the state.
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