Cumulative air impact has been identified as one of the worst unregulated problems contributing to environmental justice communities, places like Camden, Newark, and other communities. In EJ Communities around the Country. Now is our chance to speak, act, and write written statements. It's going to be an amazing day in Trenton.
New Jersey Clean Air Council Annual Public Hearing April 13, 2011 9:30 a.m.
NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection 401 E. State St., Trenton, NJ
The Challenge
Currently, air pollution control in New Jersey is governed by the practice of regulating each pollutant individually, with no specific guidelines for considering the cumulative health impacts of multiple chemical and nonchemical stressors. A cumulative health impacts approach would move beyond the pollutant-by- pollutant method of regulation and take into account additive and possibly synergistic adverse health effects of exposure to multiple air pollutants and other environmental stressors, even when no single-pollutant standard may be violated.
The need for a cumulative impacts approach is greatest in urban communities that are burdened with higher levels of pollution and multiple stressors that may increase susceptibility to development of health related disorders. Groups who are particularly
vulnerable to air pollution include children, the elderly, and residents with pre-existing conditions such as asthma, other respiratory disorders and heart disease. Socioeconomic status associated with both increased exposures to pollution and increased vulnerability includes poverty, race and ethnicity.
Understanding, evaluating, and remediating the unequal burden of air pollution and its impacts throughout New Jersey and the rest of the nation are major challenges facing advocates of the environment and environmental justice, regulators, scientists and the regulated community. Several governmental environmental protection departments, including the NJDEP, the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/ EPA), and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), also are seeking methods to address the issue of cumulative impacts. Engaging this issue will be a continuation of earlier Clean Air Council discussions that resulted in the inclusion of several recommendations regarding cumulative impacts in the Council's 2010 report, "Vision for the Next Decade: Air Quality and Air Pollution Control in New Jersey." The hearing will provide a more extensive discussion and examination of this cutting-edge issue that has significant implications for the health of New Jersey residents. The Council has compiled a set of questions related to cumulative impacts, listed below, that it would like to have addressed at its upcoming hearing.