Filed Under: Environmental Issues | Westchester | Air

Vehicular Pollusion

Vehicular traffic in Westchester continues to increase. Air quality is declining, with ozone reaching levels not seen since the late 1980s. The reason is simple: more trips, more vehicles, many more light trucks and particularly sport utility vehicles, which burn more fuel and emit more pollutants and represent more than 40% of all family vehicles on the roadways. Without more stringent controls by 2010 SUVs and light trucks may produce 63% of carbon emissions and 75% of the smog emanating from personal vehicle tailpipes. These vehicles are the largest and fastest growing contributor to transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions.

Westchester’s car pollution problem is two-fold. First, it is a transportation and lifestyle issue: improving air quality depends upon finding alternatives to automobile transportation, reducing solo driving, and developing planning strategies that reduce residents’ needs to commute by bringing housing, transportation and jobs closer together. Second, it is a technological issue: vehicles that burn cleaner fuels more efficiently will have lower emissions. In 2004 New York State adopted regulations to require the cleaner California Low Emission Vehicle (LEV II) standards for all light and medium-duty motor vehicles. These are the most stringent standards in the country.

Aircraft emissions contribute to Westchester’s failure to meet air quality standards, and the busy Westchester County Airport handles as many as one hundred flights a day and one million passengers annually on both commercial and private planes. It is the largest corporate airport in the country. Proposals to expand the size, facilities or number of flights at the airport have met vigorous opposition from residents concerned with increasing noise, air and water pollution. Water pollution is a particularly important issue because the airport is adjacent to Kensico Reservoir, a major source of drinking water for New York City. For more information see Drinking Water [hyperlink] Limiting emissions is complicated by the fact that corporate and private planes and helicopters comprise 80% of the airport’s traffic, and their activities are unregulated. The County can only reduce aircraft emissions indirectly, by reducing the number of commercial flights.