Kylie Roulet gasping at astoundingly poor visibility from significant pollution in Cleveland, Ohio - July 28, 2010 - 3:00 PM

Dear realNEO:

I have forwarded the following request to Senator Sherrod Brown, who I have contacted regarding poor air quality and defective pollution monitoring in Northeast Ohio, and I expect a response this week that I will share with this community for action.

Norm

Mr. Ryan,

I'm sorry I missed your call.

I'm beginning to compile an issues list for air quality and perhaps you may introduce a staffer capable of answering the following:

Why is our air reading from the State EPA AirNow Site (screenshot attached) Unhealthy For Sensitive Groups now - what monitor data is this based upon - what formula determines that - what software calculates that - what human intervention has touched our air quality data today, where, by whom, under what authority - what are the air pollution conditions for the monitors that never work (Medina and Painesville) and the monitors that appear to sometimes work (Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, Sheffield Lake, Canton) - why does Cleveland only have one monitor when we had two before this Summer and which monitor location is reporting - why does Warren show a 24 hour reading yet no one hour - who is personally responsible and paid for maintaining the monitor equipment on site at each site - where are the performance records - where is the raw data - who is personally responsible and paid for the data transmissions to the Ohio EPA and any other data management and reporting services and who does have access to our monitor data in what formats -  who is personally responsible and paid for maintaining the data transmissions to Ohio University and the data analysis equipment and software at Ohio University and who has access to the equipment and data - what human interaction with the data and software is legal and authorized - who is responsible for the data at the Ohio EPA AirNow site http://www.airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.local_city&cityid=148 and the NOACA AirOhio site http://ohioair.info/quality/currentmap1hrPM25.asp that are always wrong - who is responsible for determining the air quality forecast for the following day that is always wrong - how are all these people able to be consistently wrong?

As Introduced by the Stanford University News, March 16, 2010, in Urban CO2 domes increase deaths, poke hole in 'cap-and-trade' proposal, Stanford researcher says: "Not all carbon dioxide emissions are equal," said Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering. "As in real estate, location matters".

"In the first study ever done on the local health effects of the domes of carbon dioxide that develop above cities, Stanford researcher Mark Jacobson found that the domes increase the local death rate. The result provides a scientific basis for regulating CO2 emissions at the local level and points out a significant oversight in the carbon dioxide "cap-and-trade" proposal that was passed by the House of Representatives in June 2009 and is awaiting definitive action by the Senate."

Everyone knows that carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas driving climate change, is a global problem. Now a Stanford study has shown it is also a local problem, hurting city dwellers' health much more than rural residents', because of the carbon dioxide "domes" that develop over urban areas. That finding, said researcher Mark Z. Jacobson, exposes a serious oversight in current cap-and-trade proposals for reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases, which make no distinction based on a pollutant's point of origin. The finding also provides the first scientific basis for controlling local carbon dioxide emissions based on their local health impacts.

Dear citizens of Northeast Ohio who are concerned about health, prosperity and/or the environment....

There is a coal burning power plant operated by Medical Center Company (MCCO) in University Circle, and another has been planned by MCCO for construction in East Cleveland, and that is harmful to the environment, our economy, and the health and educational achievement and so success in life of all citizens in neighboring communities, like Cleveland, East Cleveland and Cleveland Heights, and regionally and worldwide.

This Saturday, 3-5 PM - at Peace Park and around Coventry Village, in Cleveland Heights - you are encouraged to meetup with a representative of the Sierra Club to learn more about the pollution and harm caused by MCCO - and alternatives to burning coal in your neighborhood.

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Dear citizens of Northeast Ohio who are concerned about health, prosperity and/or the environment....

There is a coal burning power plant operated by Medical Center Company (MCCO) in University Circle, and another has been planned by MCCO for construction in East Cleveland, and that is harmful to the environment, our economy, and the health and educational achievement and so success in life of all citizens in neighboring communities, like Cleveland, East Cleveland and Cleveland Heights, and regionally and worldwide.

This Friday, 5-7 PM, you are encouraged to meet a representative of the Sierra Club to learn more about the pollution and harm caused by MCCO, and alternatives to burning coal in your neighborhood - the Sierra Club is supporting our community to "Move Beyond Coal" and in preparation for a Federal EPA hearing on the renewal of the permit for the MCCO plant to continue burning coal in your neighborhood - August 10, 2010, 4:30-6:45 PM at the MLK Branch of the Cleveland Public Library

You are encouraged to attend that public meeting to speak out against needless pollution of your neighborhoods and families by MCCO, to "Move Beyond Coal".

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The first rule of the Art Of Surviving Cleveland is PROTECT YOUR DNA!

As reported on realNEO: "what we have learned after sampling and genetically profiling many gull families is that colonies close to integrated steel mills transmit DNA mutations to their offspring more frequently than those at rural sites. In addition, the closer the colony to steel mills, the higher the mutation rate".  Further, "Our genetic analyses of environmentally exposed mice revealed that offspring from the steel site inherited nearly double the frequency of DNA mutations compared to their rural counterparts. Clearly, air pollution near integrated steel mills can induce genetic damage. At this time we cannot identify the class of chemical pollutant responsible, but suggest that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, by-products of coal combustion, are a likely candidate."

In other words, and further: if you want to live a long, healthy, normal life and perhaps have offspring... DON'T live, work, eat, visit or play near a steel mill or any coal-burning facility... DON'T DO THIS:

Broken Air Pollution Monitoring Station in Cleveland, Ohio, on an UNHEALTHY DAY - July 5, 2010

As highlighted in my posting on realNEO July 8, 2010 - "Texas regulators are failing to properly monitor, control and enforce federal emission standards! Like in Ohio?!" - I've concluded that "Ohio regulators are failing to properly monitor, control and enforce federal emission standards, and that I believe that political, business and environmental leadership are hiding the violations of polluters by causing ineffective and so publicly harmful and dangerous pollution control practices here, which are made possible by government failure here to really monitor, control and enforce federal emission standards."

Further, I make clear, "the Sierra Club and the Federal EPA are taking legal action AGAINST the Texas STATE REGULATORS and the world's largest corporations because they are not in fact protecting the environment, as required by the Federal government," I go on to report "I have been compiling evidence of corrupt and/or incompetent pollution control in Ohio for many years, and have now formally requested the help of the Sierra Club and their affiliates around the world to force change upon Ohio regulators who are failing to properly monitor, control and enforce federal emission standards here."

I conclude: "As I am seeking real, good outcomes for here - elimination of physical harm from Mittal and other excessive polluters in this region - like being realized through real environmentalism in Texas, my role in this community is not Mr. Nice Guy. I am the uncompromising polluter-killer who makes the Sierra Club seem like a breath of cool fresh air on an astoundingly dangerous Cleveland July afternoon, like today..."

Right on cue, like a breathe of fresh air, I recieved copies today of correspondence from the Sierra Club addressing this very issue, and I asked permission to share that on realNEO as public information and motivation for citizens to engage the government on these issues

Real bicycle commuter riding to work in a lumber yard in the Cleveland Flats. His work didn't cause this smog.

Why am I so hostile toward Ohio leadership?

Must be the poison in the air!

And, the life in hell lived by real environmentalists.

Consider what is necessary to clean up the air in environmentally-compromised Texas, where "Environmental groups say Exxon Mobil refinery violates U.S. air law" - "The environmental groups' legal maneuvers are part of broader accusations by the organizations and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that Texas regulators are failing to properly monitor, control and enforce federal emission standards."

You think it is any easier to deal with the greatest corruption on Earth - the corruption of our environmental laws - right here in highly corrupt, polluted, old-economy Northeast Ohio?

Now in our sixth day of high temperatures, high humidity, high levels of air pollution harm and considerable human suffering, the Cleveland-Akron-Lorain area of Ohio now has the distinction of being on the U.S. EPA's Forecast list of 5 worst pollution locations in the county for July 8, 2010 - and our pollution monitoring equipment is not working consistently in the region, so our air pollution is likely worse than recorded and/or reported by the EPA. So, if the EPA finds real NEO #2 in America for pollution, I'm quite sure we are in fact #1.

Not a reason for LeBron to remain in Cleveland. Definitely a reason to stop burning coal in Northeast Ohio and world-wide.

Air Quality Advisory Issued for Northeast Ohio 
Tuesday and Wednesday, July 6 and 7, 2010 due to Ozone

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Forecast for Cleveland-Akron-Lorain, OH Tomorrow's Forecast

Saturday, Jul 3:		Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups		Ozone

For additional information concerning the air quality forecast, contact one of the following agencies, or visit http://airohio.epa.state.ohs .

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Air Quality Advisory Issued for Northeast Ohio

Saturday, June 26, 2010 due to Ozone Concentratio

Northeast Ohio- There is potential for high ozone pollution levels Saturday, June 26, due to high-temperature conditions. Pollution may reach levels considered "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" during the afternoon or early evening hours in areas not subject to rain.

Medical Marijuana Bill Takes Root in Ohio - State Sen. Bill Seitz supports concept, but not this bill

By Stephen Carter-Novotni

Depending on how you read the tea leaves, support for some sort of marijuana legalization might be at an all-time high among Americans.

The results of an Associated Press/CNBC poll released in April showed 55 percent of Americans opposed an end to prohibition. But when those polled were asked to compare the hypothetical regulation of marijuana to that of alcohol, 56 percent said marijuana regulation should be the same or less strict than the regulation of alcohol.

In Ohio, Democrat State Rep. Kenny Yuko of Richmond Heights, a Cleveland suburb, recently introduced House Bill 478, which would legalize the use, growth and dispensing of medical marijuana for persons suffering from debilitating conditions including cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease.

“This is a very easy remedy for therapeutic relief,” Yuko says.

Tip of the Hat and Props to the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Michael McIntyre, and his Tipoff column today - First Reporter to Recognize "A new cash crop" for Ohio.

I look forward to discussing this initiative in detail with Michael and others in the media and public, as it is important to educate the community on the economic benefits we will receive from "Growing a Bright Green NEO PAC for Legalization & Commercialization of Cannabis Crops, Products & Services".

Here is Michael McIntyre's correct and intelligent impression of our initiative to make Northeast Ohio the Open Source Capital of the Brightest Greenest State of Earth:

A new cash crop

Some Northeast Ohio boosters are pushing for a new product to revive the local economy: Marijuana. And, no, stoners, they're not talking about boosting sales of Doritos.

Norm Roulet of the RealNEO blog announced last week that a political action committee, Real Green NEO PAC, was formed to push for a November ballot issue for "enlightened legalization of cannabis crops."

The people of Northeast Ohio should be highly concerned about our air pollution, for many reasons. A most recent reason for concern: the May 2010 study "The Effect of Power Plants on Local Housing Values and Rents" finds "3-7 percent decreases in housing values and rents within two miles of plants with the semiparametric estimates suggesting somewhat larger decreases within one mile. In addition, there is evidence of taste-based sorting with neighborhoods near plants experiencing statistically significant decreases in mean household income, educational attainment, and the proportion of homes that is owner occupied". That is a strong analytic foundation for finding much of Cleveland is statistically worth significantly less than cleaner areas of Northeast Ohio and cities in America (as also reflected in our low property values here).

December 29, 2009 - China executed a British citizen, Akmal Shaikh, caught smuggling heroin

When United States leaders speak of developing our "homeland security" by drilling and stripmining our way to "energy independence", I must question their scientific integrity and intellectual competency.

It is well understood worldwide that our Federal government has made impossible the development of an industrial hemp economy in America, which offers citizens a greater degree of energy independence here, because past corporate tycoons were able to force corrupt and ignorant politicians to incorrectly associated "hemp" with "marijuana", and "marijuana" has incorrectly been branded as dangerous and addictive by many ignorant and corrupt American scientists, and the corporate tycoons who pay their salaries.

Long story short, because of the ignorant 1936 low-grade American exploitation film called "Reefer Madness", the tuly mad leadership of America has long outlawed developing industrial hemp resources, intellectual property, and technologies in America.

As a result of old science, politics and industry dominating energy, health and environmental planning and development of Cleveland, Northeast Ohio, Ohio and America, citizens here must confront the realities of too much pollution in our air today, with certainty of growing air pollution worldwide in the years ahead. As such, the United States Environmental Protection Agency's 2009 Integrated Science Assessment for Particulate Matter finds our pollution causes cardiovascular and respiratory problems and death... topping a long list of cumulative harm pollution causes people and society. Integrated Science Assessment for Particulate Matter forms the scientific foundation for the review of the primary (health-based) and secondary (welfare-based) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM) in America, and "accurately reflects “the latest scientific knowledge useful in indicating the kind and extent of identifiable effects on public health which may be expected from the presence of [a] pollutant in ambient air”".

As I've long written on realNEO, Northeast Ohio has a pollution crisis and does a poor job or monitoring our pollution, putting citizens' lives in danger. How much in danger is the subject of this lengthy EPA analysis. In short, you are certainly being harmed greatly by the high levels of PM clearly released into the air in Northeast Ohio, especially near major roadways and coal burning facilities that are source points, like Mittal and MCCO. For example: "Epidemiologic studies that examined the effect of PM 2.5 on cardiovascular emergency department (ED) visits and hospital admissions reported consistent positive associations (predominantly for ischemic heart disease [IHD] and congestive heart failure [CHF]), with the majority of studies reporting increases ranging from 0.5 to 3.4% per 10 μg/m3 increase in PM 2.5".

Why do I hate the leadership of OHIO?!?!?!

Why the hell was air quality in Cleveland and so Northeast Ohio, the region, the state and the world so "UNHEALTHY" last night, while we slept, and why is it so unhealthy RIGHT NOW - and HOW UNHEALTHY really, where, as indicated above?

                      Happy Holiday everyone on REALNEO and please drive safe and drive for others watch the children,and eat plenty of food.       BE BLESSED

Northeast Ohio - Today's high temperatures and lack of wind may result in exceedances today for both ground-level ozone and fine particles.  An Air Quality Advisory is in effect for today, May 27, only.  Fine particle concentrations will be highest in urban areas, while ozone may be more widespread.

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I was flabbergasted to read an article in the Cleveland Plain Deal titled "Organic food benefits debated in wake of president's report on cancer, environment", about the 2008–2009 Annual Report of the President’s Cancer Panel - REDUCING ENVIRONMENTAL CANCER RISK... What We Can Do Now, that has nothing to do with ORGANIC FOOD, is misleading, and seems intended to further dumb-down local citizens to the health hazards caused by excessive polluting and medical interventions here, preventing citizens from following one of the core Recommendations:

SELF-ADVOCACY

7. Each person can become an active voice in his or her community.  To a greater extent than many realize, individuals have the power to affect public policy by letting policymakers know that they strongly support environmental cancer research and measures that will reduce or remove from the environment toxics that are known or suspected carcinogens or endocrine-disrupting chemicals.  Individuals also can influence industry by selecting non-toxic products and, where these do not exist, communicating with manufacturers and trade organizations about their desire for safer products.

Friends of Charlie Mosbrook (seems nearly everyone in Cleveland) have been concerned for his sudden health issues this year, and gladdened to see him back up, around, and performing stronger than ever. Featured above is a video from Charlie's website - inspiring, as is all his work - and he has many events upcoming - two in Lakewood may interested realNEO readers (we have lots of traffic in Lakewood)...

On April 29, 2010, EPA proposed a set of regulatory proposals under the Clean Air Act that address emissions from boilers, process heaters, and certain solid waste incinerators. These rules would significantly cut emissions of pollutants that are of particular concern for children. Mercury and lead can cause adverse affects on children's developing brains -- including effects on IQ, learning, and memory. The rules would also reduce emissions of other pollutants including cadmium, dioxin, furans, formaldehyde and hydrochloric acid. These pollutants can cause cancer or other adverse health effects in adults and children. Together, these rules would cut mercury and other air toxics emissions from nearly 200,000 units across the U.S.

ICEarth Bigbang computers, our Linux distro, and our optimal open source data and application configurations are designed to handle the most processor (CPU and GPU), memory and transaction intensive challenges in the world, to save Earth. Doing that requires an integration of our regional and global geographic information systems with layers of valuable insight not yet integrated, like environmental, atmospheric and topographic data, to drive analyses of life impacting factors in our neighborhoods like environmental fallout from all sources of pollution, to the home and child, for free to them. A good explanation of the type of data and analyses included in such capabilities is described below, helping you make sense of what just doesn't make sense, by doing things like growing GRASS...

Whether you care about childhood lead poisoning or not, I think you'll be interested by important insight on Lead, Diabetes, Hypertension, and Renal Function that everyone in the world should understand. Think of the cost of this on society - the suffering, reduced quality of life, and lost years for so many people, caused by lead harming kidney function. Here's the intro and abstract - you'll need to set up an account on WebMD to read the rest (apparently free - this is not an endorsement of WebMD... I am not a member... I will join to read the rest of this  and let you know my thoughts)...