Public Comment
Non-Diablo Canyon Public
Comment
for October 24, 2024
RCEA Board of Directors
Regular Meeting
From: Wendy Ring
To: Public Comment
Cc: Candy Stockton
Subject: Comment on issue not on the agenda
Date: Wednesday, October 23, 2024 1:19:04 PM
I just wanted to share this recent systematic review of studies on the impact of air pollution on children's brains which was forwarded to me by the California Lung Association. It describes 40 studies showing the impact of air pollution on the structure and function of children's brains. Many of these studies found brain impacts at air pollution levels below state and federal standards. RCEA's air monitoring program, which not only fails to detect the most numerous and most damaging size of particulates coming from the biomass plant, also represents pollution levels below the federal standard as benign, misleading the public about health consequences. RCEA should abandon its monitoring program, which does more harm than good.
Here is a link to the article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101436 In other news, the biomass plant, with the approval of the air district, applied for a permit modification which will allow it to increase its particulate emissions 5 fold over current actual emissions. The air district rejected Humboldt Coalition for Clean Energy's suggestions that language be added to the permit to prevent an increase in emissions either by limiting operation hours or installing best available control technology, prevent the plant from cheating on emissions tests by using fuel which is much drier than that which they usually burn, and require annual particulate emissions testing.
Wendy Ring MD, MPH
3. Oral & Written Communications