Get Rid of the Smoke: The NYS Senate Should Pass S.1145-A on Monday
Posted November 13, 2009 in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, The Media and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
Ever wonder why some buildings in New York have a plume of black smoke coming out of their smokestacks?
That soot comes from #2 heating oil, a close cousin of diesel fuel. It's similar to the diesel fuel in New York's buses and trucks, except it can contain more than 650 times as much sulfur. It's dirty stuff, and it can trigger asthma emergencies and other health ailments when people breathe it. Like all soot pollution, it's especially a threat to children, the elderly and anybody with heart or lung ailments.
On Monday, the New York State Senate has a chance to take a big step to make this plume of smoke a thing of the past.
Here are the particulars: The Senate will meet in a special session on Monday, and may use this opportunity to pass S.1145-A (Perkins), a bill that, when it takes effect in July 2011, will reduce the sulfur level of #2 heating oil to the same level as the clean, ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel now used in trucks and buses across the country. (The Assembly has already passed a version of this bill.)
Ever since the fall of 2006, sulfur levels in highway diesel fuel have been capped at 15 parts-per-million (ppm). But #2 heating oil averages about 2,600 ppm in New York, and is permitted to contain up to 10,000 ppm - 666 times the allowable sulfur levels in bus and truck fuel.
Sulfur in heating oil contributes to high concentrations of sulfur dioxides and fine particulate matter in New York State.
Just today, EPA designated much of downstate New York, including New York City, as a "nonattainment area" for its most recent health-based particulate matter standard. This will trigger a legal requirement for the state to create a plan to cut this pollution.
No. 2 home heating oil contributes an estimated 1,155 tons of PM emissions every year in New York City. Passing and implementing S.1145-A would reduce as much pollution as shutting down two and a half coal plants in New York State, and will help the state meet its new legal requirements for particulate matter.
Let's hope the Senate passes this bill on Monday. It's time to get rid of that black plume of sooty smoke, once and for all.
