Jun 25 2004
A story in the Detroit Free Press about mercury emissions from power plants. DTE would encourage trading mercury emission credits, which was proposed by the EPA earlier this year. The first story summarizes the health hazards created by this plant and others, while the second story is an opinion piece from earlier this year about mercury emission reduction credits.
Jun 25 2004
NPR reported this week on findings that revealed significant improvements to regional air quality during the blackout last August. More evidence that suggests that power plants are significant contributors to air pollution in the Great Lakes region. More information can be found here.
Jun 23 2004
As it’s ozone action season, I thought it might be interesting to see what regions had programs to mitigate the summer pollution problems. Ozone is a secondary pollutant, a result of emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx’s) and volatile organic carbons (VOCs).
A brief online search revealed several places with trading programs. Chicago has a program for the exchange of pollution credits to emit Volatile Organic Materials (VOMs) according to the Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable. Georgia has a program for VOCs and NOx’s. California established a program in 2001 for NOx and PM10 reduction. Other pollutants are also included according to an EPA link. SWCAA - Southwest Washington state has a suite of contaminants proposed for trade programs.
Jun 16 2004
A friend mentioned this library to me the other day. It has one of the largest green roofs in Europe. Here are two web links that describe the library. The first one is the official library site, and the second on has some very nice pictures of the gardens including a bird’s eye view reminding one of Steven Peck’s comment that the roof is a building’s fifth facade.
Jun 10 2004
Woke up this morning to a story on NPR stating that NAFTA’s environmental agency reported that electric power plants are the worst polluters in North America. Much of the pollution comes from plants within the Great Lakes region. More information is at the following link: North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation