How Accurate is EPA Pollution Reporting?

[@HorzaPanda]

While I'd like to believe the EPA is keeping tabs I'm aware that their funding isn't always the best. Sometimes that feels deliberate :X

[@ethan-loves]

I remember taking a course on public administration in college where we happened to learn that the EPA's impotency is very much deliberate. When Nixon and congress were creating it, they intentionally gave it inadequate authority, organizational design, and funding to fulfill its extensive mandate. To my knowledge, those structural failings haven't been amended to this day.

[@HorzaPanda]

@@ethan-loves I'd assumed it had been hindered later on, but it always did seem weird Nixon started it. Makes a lot more he kneecapped it from the start :X

[@ethan-loves]

Thank you for spreading the word.

[@RainaRamsay]

That awkward feeling when you're pretty sure you recognize one of the plants shown, from your daily commute :/

[@chelseashurmantine8153]

THANK YOU!!! It is insane and I’ve been saying it for years. I was an exterminator for many years and learned that the EPA no care at all about our health.

[@kevinjobe2078]

The EPA doesn’t hold responsibility for pollution reporting. That authority is delegated to the states. The EPA just develops the framework for what is required. I’ve been in environmental management for about 15 years and I rarely have any direct communication with EPA.

[@Cybernaut551]

Let's applause to HT for standing up to toxic air quality & promoting humanitarian welfare. Thank you!

[@smooth_space]

The EPA doesn't do this because it's seized by corporate power like all aspects of government

[@offmefaceken4547]

what are us people going to do about it? keep talking about it or start walking to the root of the problem and give them some discipline like a defiant child?

[@Praisethesunson]

@@offmefaceken4547 I suggest you remind the executive boards of major chemical corporations that they are still subject to assassination.

[@byrongsmith]

Thank you for covering this. There is nowhere near enough coverage of the effects and ubiquity of air pollution.

[@Praisethesunson]

But think of the shareholders!

[@plumokin5535]

It makes perfect sense, but I've never thought about the relationship between redlining and pollution until now

[@confusedwhale]

The "bad" neighborhood is generally down wind from the rest of the population.... It's also generally down wind of trains that used to use coal (wrong side of the tracks), and near freeways... Which is also not good (you really should live within 1000 ft of a freeway). kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6qcl6Z4nt1paZI kzbin.info/www/bejne/aX7PqnSsisubbqc kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5bLfJp_mNSdbNE

[@grahamrankin4725]

Several years back our city council turned down a air quality monitoring station (at no cost to the city). During the rash of fires in Oregon in 2020, air quality was terrible,but we could only extrapolate from stations 50 miles away.

[@tyrizzle3]

It baffles me why this channel has such low viewership

[@l01230123]

I'm a little confused too, ~4k views from ~400k subs is only 1%. Regardless of the algorithm, and that January sucks for views, I think a lot of people just don't care that much. :(

[@djguydan]

Same can be said for FDA and USDA, the numbers on facilities that are regularly monitored are surprisingly low.

[@adamwho9801]

All these high pollution areas are on the Gulf Coast. I am sure all the Republican lead states of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas are going to get right on fixing the problem....

[@gogreen2496]

Legit don't know how much I'm supposed to talk about this but I work for a state govt and participated in a review of this data (including asking facilities for their methodology). Basically what we discovered is facilities will over report to the TRI (Toxics Release Inventory) because they don't want to spend the time/money collecting more accurate data if they fall under the maximum allowable. I assume it's similar in other states as well. This report is super inportant to remind us all to double check how accurate air quality standards are (and for social and racial justice use), but, for the most part, the claims in this article are a bit overblown.

[@ethan-loves]

Do you speak for facilities throughout the US, or only in your state? That is important information; facilities in other states may not over-report.

[@gogreen2496]

@@ethan-loves I can only speak for my state. And we aren't great about requiring HAPS reporting so it may be more unique to us. However, facilities do tend to report worse case sincario emissions when estimating rather than typical to be safe. (shocking I know, but most don't find it worth it to try fake lower emissions, at least for air quality, I cannot speak to green house gases.) The real take away is that the data for this is not well collected, and it's something that EPA is definitely trying to improve on.

[@ethan-loves]

@@gogreen2496 Thank you for the clarification! Your insights are very interesting.

[@nuarius]

Wait.... your telling me that the government based agency is misrepresenting information about how bad the pollution is form its largest political contributors... [gasps in sarcasm]

[@rockytran3469]

Hi, I’m Rocky Xuan Tran and I find your videos of healthcare triage totally correct and very helpful! Thank you! 😊

[@aarononeal9830]

You should talk about Ecosia they are a search engine that plants tress

[@scottabc72]

Thank you, South Philadelphia along with Chester and Marcus Hook PA are other classic examples of this. Also I learned Memphis TN has a pyramid

[@FloridatedH2O]

Keep in mind that while 250,000 is a lot of people, equivalent to a medium-small city, it is literally 0.075% of the US population. If someone told you that less than a tenth of one percent of Americans are exposed to dangerous levels of ethylene oxide, you would think that the EPA and gov regulations are doing a pretty good job. Just something to consider...I am in no way trying to exonerate polluting corporations.

[@chulafferty6695]

Where have you been? This has been known since the early 70's. Check old 60 minute shows. America is such a caring country when it comes to it's own citizens and the environment?$!

[@grantcivyt]

To be clear, we're talking about fewer than 250 estimated deaths per year in the US if I've understood the figures correctly. This is in chemicals that are *associated* with harms but presumably not known to be *actually* harmful. That 250 is likely an overestimate based on the numbers. It's important to keep perspective when we're talking about disrupting industries that provide employment to thousands or more people across these communities.

[@weenisw]

Do you mean deaths from all air pollution?

[@grantcivyt]

@@weenisw It's difficult to say since I'm using the figures from the video. The video (which relies on the propublica investigation), points out that 250k people live in areas subject to pollution levels that exceed safe limits. The worst example mentioned in the video (in Memphis) had an excess cancer rate of 1 in 6500. My guess is that's the worst rate they discovered, but let's assume it's not. Let's assume the rate is much worse at 1 in 1000, and let's assume that all 250k people live under that much worse level of pollution. Then we'd expect 250 people to exhibit a cancer they wouldn't otherwise develop. Of course, cancer isn't always deadly, so we wouldn't expect all 250 people to die. In any case, I think my figure of 250 deaths is a serious overestimate, but it's still important to understand the numbers that are really being discussed in the video. There's an element of exaggeration that I think is problematic. I'm open to being corrected though if my math or my understanding are wrong.

[@hothambassador]

First?

[@paintballthieupwns]

Redlineing based on race has been proven incorrect again and again.

[@plumokin5535]

That's not true, even conservative sources would disagree with you. Redlining was real and was made illegal in the 60s. The after effects are argued by political parties, but redlining itself was real and that's a bipartisan take.

[@nuarius]

you act like thats some conspiracy and not a thing that politicians straight up said was a thing they did.....

[@d_dave7200]

Citation needed