The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency staff will present information and answer questions about air toxics monitoring at the Harriet Tubman Leadership Academy for Young Women. This monitoring is part of a national initiative to understand whether outdoor toxic air pollution from industry, motor vehicles and other sources poses health concerns to schoolchildren. EPA is monitoring for air toxics at 62 schools nationwide.
Air toxics are pollutants known, or suspected to cause cancer and other serious health effects. EPA and DEQ regulate emissions of 187 air toxics under the Clean Air Act. Air toxics that are being monitored at the school include arsenic, lead, manganese, nickel, acrolein, benzene, acetaldehyde and 1, 3-butadiene.
Ten sets of samples will be collected over 60 days. EPA will analyze the samples, check the data for quality, and analyze the results to estimate how exposure to the outdoor air around the school might affect students’ health over the long term. EPA will post results to the EPA Website at as they become available. The final report of this analysis will be available in early 2010.
There will be an informational meeting where DEQ and EPA staff will present information and answer questions about this monitoring 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 7 at the Harriet Tubman School Library, 2231 N Flint.