This page was last updated on May 21, 2017.
Cracker plant will bring more air quality problems; Michelle Mindek (MM); Beaver County Times; May 12, 2017.
Previous Mindek letters I reviewed are here and here.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“An alarming article was recently published in The Times. The Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Committee sponsored an event and had a professor from the University of Pittsburgh discuss how air quality in Beaver, Butler and Allegheny counties will be affected by the Shell Chemicals ethane cracker plant.”
[RWC] The subject-article’s author (Jared Stonesifer) failed to mention the Pitt teacher (James Fabisiak) is on the board of directors of “Group Against Smog and Pollution” (GASP).
The “Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Committee” (BCMAC) has something like an “interlocking directorate” relationship with “Progressive Democrats of America – PA 12th Congressional District Chapter” (BCR).
“When organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants get into the air, these pollutants will not stay in one area. They will travel and cause our air quality, which recently received an ‘F’ grade, to get worse.”
[RWC] This is similar to a comment in MM’s previous letter. In that letter, MM wrote, “If there is a terrible smell or pollution, it will not stay just in Potter Township. It will travel miles and miles. We must think of the future.”
My comment was, “So, it would be okay ‘If there is a terrible smell or pollution [as long as it would] stay just in Potter Township?’ Wow!”
“Too many people have trouble with breathing problems now. We do not need more health issues.”
[RWC] Here’s an anonymous comment from the discussion thread for the subject article.
“a13g13 May 2, 2017 8:10pm
“Thank you! I moved to Beaver county 10 years ago from Chicago and I am appalled at the cancer rate around here. Im an RN at a local hospital and it makes me sick the amount of people who have cancer of all kinds and thyroid problems. I have also developed a thyroid problem since moving here and no one in my family has one. When are people around here going to realize that all this asthma, cancer, thyroid, and other health problems are not the norm in other parts of the country. I blame the air and water/ground pollution and the radiation from the nuclear plant. No increase in jobs is worth the health of the residents that live here. It’s all about a big company lining their pockets at the expense of people’s health.”
Why didn’t the alleged and anonymous RN present the data to support her/his claims?
“radiation from the nuclear plant?” According to the NRC,
“An operating nuclear power plant produces very small amounts of radioactive gases and liquids, as well as small amounts of direct radiation. If you lived within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant, you would receive an average radiation dose of about 0.01 millirem per year. To put this in perspective, the average person in the United States receives an exposure of 300 millirem per year from natural background sources of radiation.
“Nuclear power plants sometimes release radioactive gases and liquids into the environment under controlled, monitored conditions to ensure that they pose no danger to the public or the environment. These releases dissipate into the atmosphere or a large water source and, therefore, are diluted to the point where it becomes difficult to measure any radioactivity. By contrast, most of an operating nuclear power plant’s direct radiation is blocked by the plant’s steel and concrete structures. The remainder dissipates in an area of controlled, uninhabited space around the plant, ensuring that it does not affect any member of the public.”
If a13g13 isn’t getting irradiated by the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station, where should he/she look?
According to the NRC for the U.S., radiation exposure sources are 50/50 between manmade and natural. On the manmade side, guess which source is greatest.
“Medical Sources” and “Nuclear Medicine” make up 96% of manmade sources. Oops.
If a13g13 is really concerned about radiation exposure, the alleged “RN at a local hospital” needs to rethink her/his career choice and steer clear of medical facilities. He/she also needs to check the radon level in her/his house.
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