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Introduction and Background
The North Shore Air Inventory Report (NS AIR) was produced by HealthLink, a non-profit environmental and health organization located on the North Shore, a heavily developed area along the coast north of Boston. The project was funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Healthy Communities Grant Program.
The purpose of the project was to increase knowledge and understanding of toxic emissions into the air in the target communities of Beverly, Salem, and Marblehead; gather health data for these communities as well as information about the health effects associated with the air pollutants and use this information to develop priorities for the reduction of toxic air pollutants.
The project was undertaken because of the poor air quality in Essex County.
Essex County has received failing grades from the American Lung Association in both its 2004 and 2005 “State of the Air” Report.
The US EPA shows Essex County to be at high risk for both cancer and non-cancerous diseases caused by toxic Air pollution (1996 data),
Essex County has been found to be a "nonattainment area" for 2004 and 2005 by the US EPA due to ozone levels in the air. This means that the levels of ozone "persistently exceed the national ambient air quality standards."
The Environmental Defense organization’s Scorecard program rates Essex County among the top 10% of dirtiest counties in the U.S.
Considerable data about health and air pollution is available on the county level, but this project attempts to assemble data on the local level. The specific communities that were selected were Salem, Beverly, and Marblehead. Salem is home to the Salem Harbor Power Plant, which Environmental Defense lists as the largest single polluter in the county. Marblehead and Beverly are the communities located on either side of Salem along the coast and were felt to represent differing types of communities for comparison purposes.
The project is community-focused and was designed to gather information and make recommendations that can be used at the community level by all stakeholders, including citizens groups and local governmental agencies.
The specific goals of the project were to:
- Compile information on air pollution, including sources, amounts, and known health effects.
- Compile existing information on community health.
- Coordinate and interpret data and obtain community input in order to develop priorities for air toxics reduction. Priorities were to be determined by factoring in quantities of pollutants, environmental harm, and potential health effects.
- Disseminate information found through web site and development of educational materials.
The information used in the report was collected by community volunteers who participated in several community mapping events. Publicly available information was also used from sources such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MA DEP), the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MA DPH), the American Lung Association, and Environmental Defense. In addition, local Boards of Health were contacted for information regarding air pollution complaints or concerns, as well as health trends of which they were aware.
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