Allegheny County Anti-Idling Ordinance
Press Release
August 19, 2003
Contact: Sue Seppi or Rachel Filippini, (412) 441-6650
Joint Press Conference
Allegheny County Anti-Idling Ordinance
“Transportation is the largest single source of air pollution in the United States. It causes nearly two-thirds of the carbon monoxide, a third of the nitrogen oxides, and a quarter of the hydrocarbons in our atmosphere.” 1
Today, Allegheny County has an opportunity to take a new step in the direction of air pollution solutions and it is relatively painless. Allegheny County Council will consider an Anti-Idling Ordinance sponsored by Councilman Rich Fitzgerald at its August 19, County Council Meeting, held on the 4th floor, Gold Room of the County Courthouse at 5:00 p.m. The Anti-Idling Ordinance will be directed towards heavy duty diesel vehicles like buses and large trucks with several exceptions so that it will not be an impractical regulation. It will also address locomotive idling. Large that can cause local hotsports. “As thousands of children head back to school, this ordinance will be an added measure of safety providing cleaner air in our school yards and inside the buses,” said Rachel Filippini of GASP. The ordinance will also address the unnecessary idling that too often occurs when fleet owners warm their vehicle engines for unnecessarily long periods of time to the detriment of nearby residents. The ordinance will be enforceable by the Allegheny County Health Department.
The Ordinance will target diesel emissions which are of special health concern within the transportation sector. “A national estimate of cancer risk from diesel exhaust found that diesel exhaust is the #1 air toxics cancer risk in the United States.”2 Moreover, particulate matter which is a major component of diesel exhaust has been linked to a wide variety of serious health impacts from upper and lower respiratory problems such as asthma attacks and possible asthma onset, to heart attacks and premature death.3 Heavy duty diesel engines are the dominant source of diesel emissions including 95% of emissions from on-road diesels and 85-90 percent of all diesel particulate matter.4 Simply put, diesel emissions are one of the most hazardous substances in our environment and yet it is a widespread and common pollutant.
Unlike smokestacks, diesel emissions are released at ground level, right where we are breathing. A 2001 study by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Coalition for Clean Air found that a child riding in a diesel school bus may be exposed to up to four times the level of diesel exhaust as in a car directly in front of the bus and that diesel fumes are highest when the windows are closed.5 While children make up only 25% of the population, they represent 40% of the asthma cases and research shows a definite correlation between air pollutants, such as diesel exhaust, and asthma attacks among children.6
The EPA has recognized the serious unhealthy aspects of diesel emissions by recently developing regulations to control emissions of both on road and off road new diesel engines. These rules are intended to be phased in over the coming years but this still leaves the large existing fleet of trucks and buses.
Furthermore The Clearing the Air Report being released on August 19 referenced in this joint press release indicates serious air quality problems in the Pittsburgh metro area. “Ranking 6th in the nation in “metro areas with the highest number of days of unhealthy air quality (2000-2002)” is alarming”, said Sue Seppi of GASP. “This is another wake up call that we must develop additional strategies to improve our air quality” said David Ginns of the Surface Transportation Project.
GASP urges Allegheny County Council and other government agencies to work together to immediately begin addressing the area’s unhealthy air by passing this Anti-Idling Ordinance. The county clearly needs to operate with conviction and cooperation to address the pressing and serious air quality problems of our Pittsburgh metropolitan area.
1. Union of Concerned Scientists: http://www.ucsusa.org/global_environment/archive/page.cfm?pageID=207
2. “Diesel Engines: Health and Environmental Impacts”, Clean Air Task Force, www.catf.us/
3.Ibid
4. “Diesel Engines: Emissions and Human Exposure”, Clean Air Task Force, p.2, www.catf.us/
5. “No Breathing in the Aisles: Diesel Exhaust Inside School Buses.” Natural Resources Defense Council, NRDC (2001)
6. Ibid, chapter 2, pg. 16
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