Health Risks

• As you can see in the GWP chart below, there will be an increase in all emission categories with the new plant. That means more Nitrogen Oxides, more Carbon Monoxide, more Volatile Organic Chemicals, more Particulate Matter 10 microns, more Particulate Matter 2.5 microns , and more Sulfur Oxides. The new plant exceeds the SCAQMD’s significance thresholds, which look at the net increase of the new plant, for 3 of the 6 criteria.

• There are schools, daycares, neighborhoods, and workplaces within 1000 feet of this plant. Any additional cancer, asthma, heart disease risk is unacceptable. At a time when clean alternatives are available we should be investing in them, not doubling down on last century’s dirty power.
• There is an increase in smog emissions from the proposed plant which will lead to haze and asthma in Glendale and Burbank.
• There are increases in a list of volatile chemicals (Benzene, Formaldehyde, Toluene, etc) that will be released that will increase cancer, heart disease, and other systemic poisonings.
• There will be an increase in particulate matter (PM) which is microscopic soot that can pass into the blood through the lungs. PM leads to asthma, heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer.
• The air in the area already fails to meet federal guidelines. We need less pollution not more.
• The Environmental Impact Review miscalculated the impacts of the increased pollution on Glendale. They used a population density much less than the reality. This makes the increased pollution violate the EPA standards for Residential Cancer Load.
• Air Pollution Around Schools is Linked to Poorer Student Health and Academic Performance – Health Affairs

Children ex-posed to air pollution perform worse on cognitive functioning tests and have impaired neurological function and lower IQ scores compared with other children. Also, children exposed to high levels of nitrogen dioxide—a common air pollutant generated by the burning of fossil fuels—have been found to have “decreases of 6.71, 7.37 and 8.61 points in quantitative, working memory and gross motor areas respectively.” Similarly, children with high levels of exposure to nitrogen dioxide and particles 10 micrometers or less in the air—a standard used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to measure air quality—perform significantly worse on neurobehavioral tests

Reference: stopgrayson.com

• Association Between Residential Proximity to Fuel-Fired Power Plants and Hospitalization Rate for Resperatory Diseases – Environmental Health Perspectives

Exposure to air pollution from fuel-fired power plants and volatile compounds coming from hazardous waste sites increases the risk of hospitalization for respiratory diseases

Reference: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

• Threats to Child Health From Fossil Fuel Combustion: Impacts of Air Pollution and Climate Change – Environmental Health Perspectives

The developing fetus and young child are more biologically and psychologically vulnerable than
adults to the many adverse effects of toxic air pollutants

Reference: ehp.niehs.nih.gov

• Electric Power Plant Emissions and Public Health – American Journal of Nursing

Gauderman and colleagues followed nearly 1,800 fourth-graders in Southern California for eight years and determined that exposure to increased levels of air pollution (specifically, nitrogen dioxide, acid vapor, fine particulate matter, and elemental carbon) is linked to reduced lung development. While the authors state that in this region the main source of these pollutants is vehicular exhaust, the same pollutants are also components of power plant emissions.

Reference: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

• The Surprising Link between Air Pollution and Alzheimer’s Disease – LA Times

For older women, breathing air that is heavily polluted by vehicle exhaust and other sources of fine particulates nearly doubles the likelihood of developing dementia

Reference: www.latimes.com

• The Terrifying Truth About Air Pollution and Dementia – Mother Jones

Controlling for things like ethnicity, gender, income, education, and other possible environmental exposures (including cigarette smoke), elderly individuals living in areas with polluted air appear to lose their mental abilities faster, show more predementia symptoms (also known as mild cognitive impairment), and develop Alzheimer’s disease at greater rates.

Reference: www.motherjones.com

• Air Pollution May Lead to Dementia in Older Women – USC News

Scientists and engineers found that older women who live in places with fine particulate matter exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s standard are 81 percent more at risk for global cognitive decline and 92 percent more likely to develop dementia, including Alzheimer’s.

Reference: news.usc.edu

• Air pollution exposure during fetal life, brain morphology, and cognitive function in school-age children – Biological Psychiatry

Air pollution is so obviously bad for lungs, heart, and other organs that most of us have never considered its effects on the developing brain. But perhaps we should have learned from studies of maternal smoking that inhaling toxins may have lasting effects on cognitive development. – John Krystal, MD, Editor of Biological Psychiatry

Reference: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov