Are you at risk? No matter who you are, where you live or the state of your health, the quality of the air you breathe each day can affect you. Depending on the length of time you are exposed, your health status, your genetic background, and the concentration of pollutants, air pollution can:

• Make it harder to breathe
• Irritate your eyes, nose and throat
• Worsen chronic diseases such as bronchitis, emphysema and asthma
• Cause heart attacks, heart failure and other forms of heart disease due to constricted blood vessels, altered heart rates and rhythms, and blood clotting
• Lead to premature death

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From the occasional refinery fire to the ongoing development of the San Francisco Basin, more and more questions are now being raised regarding air quality assurance. How do we sustain a clean air environment when industry's smokestacks and residential housing are forced to coexist? For more than a quarter of a century, this conflict has been played out in the Oceanview District of West Berkeley. Oceanview is an odorous area, where new micro breweries and old steel foundries are mixed in with a growing community of nearby residents, cafes, offices, and preschools. The high level of local airborne contaminants is signaling the existence of a serious regulatory imbalance and a growing community health crisis.

Most of us understand that any environmental sampling, whether soil, water or air, often involves more than science because of prevailing business and political interests. It should come as no surprise that these influences can define an environment investigation as much as regulatory science. Historically, these forces have handpicked the "experts" to investigate and have set the budgets in a regulatory process that has little public oversight. Consequently, air monitoring schemes can vary greatly.

West Berkeley Air Monitoring Studies & Risk Assessments

NEW West Berkeley Community Monitoring Project INDEX Global Community Monitor NEW: Chart of West Berkeley Air Pollution Sources California Air Resources Board 2005 data for industrial facilities in zip code 94710 The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (finally) required Pacific Steel Casting Company (PSC) to prepare a Health Risk Assessment (HRA) to meet the requirements of the Air Toxics Hot Spots (ATHS) program. A Screening Assessment of Ambient Air: Pacific Steel Casting Company ENSR Health Sciences, March 1989 Toxicological Analysis of Chemicals Used at Pacific Steel Casting Company Selina Bendix, 9 November 1990 Ambient Air Pollution and Health Risks at Harrison Street Acurex Environmental Corporation, December 10, 1997 West Berkeley Air Monitoring Part 1, West Berkeley Air Monitoring Part 2 Applied Measurement Science, September 6, 2000 PM10 Monitoring at the Berkeley Recycling Center Materials Recovery Facility July, 2002 to January, 2003 Applied Measurement Science Berkeley Solid Waste Management Transfer Station Air Quality Evaluation and Recommended Mitigation Measures, ESA Environmental Science Associates, April 29, 2003 Update on Air Quality at the proposed site of the Ursula Sherman Village Prepared for: Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency, September 30, 2002 Harrison Soccer Fields Air Study Part 1, and Harrison Soccer Fields Air Study Part 2 Applied Measurement Science, June 2003 Qualitative Human Health Risk Assessment For Airborne Particulate Matter at Harrison Street Park Charles E. Lambert Ph.D. DABT McDaniel Lambent, Inc. April 25, 2003 Assessment and Recommendations re: Air Quality at Harrison Play Fields project Date: October 25, 1999 Poki Namkung, M.D., M.P.H., City of Berkeley Health Officer

California Air Resources Board (CARB) Find emissions data for more than 10,000 facilities in California. FACILITY SEARCH

More Berkeley issues of Air Quality

• Cancer Risk in West Berkeley
  L A Wood, Berkeley Daily Planet, January 29, 2008
• West Berkeley's Air Quality: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Commentary
  L A Wood, Berkeley Daily Planet August 28, 2007
• Ordinance Would Curb Use of Wood-Burning Fireplaces in City
  Jennifer Kline, Daily Californian, December 6, 2001
• To: Bay Area Air Quality Management District
  Re: Chromium in Air at Fourth & Harrison Street March 26, 2001
• Air Study Expands to Include Samples of Chromium
  John Geluardi, Berkeley Daily Planet, April 11, 2001
• West Berkeley Air Quality Plan Falls Short
  L A Wood, Berkeley Daily Planet, March 14, 2000
• Seeking Big Picture on Oceanview Air Emissions
  L A Wood, Berkeley Voice, February 11, 2000
• Air Quality Battle in Oceanview
  L A Wood , Berkeley Voice, September 9, 1999
• Aeration of Polluted Soils
  L A Wood September 19, 1995
  

  Gilman Street Freeway Fields Berkeley's Freeway Sports Fields L A Wood, Berkeley Daily Planet, October 14, 2005 Gilman Street Freeway Fields Rezoning CEQA Comments L A Wood, July 13, 2005 To: Berkeley City Council Re: Gilman Street Freeway Fields proposed Mitigations L A Wood, October 18, 2005 Public Comments on the Gilman project/East Shore Park process Berkeley Daily Planet, Letters to the Editor Harrison Street Homeless Shelter: Ursula Sherman Transitional Housing Comments to 711 Harrison Street expansion of Homeless Shelter Environmental Impact Report" L A Wood, July 7, 2003 Ursula Sherman Transitional Housing Zoning Mitigations for Air Quality Zoning Adjustments Board Decision Date: 07-24-03 USE PERMIT: #02-10000017 AIR REGUALTION (CARB, BAAQMD) "Waiving the Rules" Air quality board lets Bay Area Companies poison the sky By A.C. Thompson, September 21, 2001 Also SEE Pacific Steel Castings INDEX Harrison Soccer Fields INDEX Skate Park INDEX Ursula Sherman Village BOSS housing INDEX West Berkeley Air Monitoring INDEX