Local air monitoring
Southeast Newport News Atmospheric Pollution Survey, 1956
Th City of Newport News hired Froehling and Robertson Inc., a Richmond-based chemical engineering firm, to quantify the amount of coal in airborne particles. The study was in response to a coal dust-related complaint to the Newport News City Council by the Garden-Shores Civic League.[1][2] Froehling and Robertson Inc. installed ten dust collection stations in the Stuart Gardens-Christopher Shores area of Southeast Newport News. Each station consisted of two-foot square glass plates coated with a neutral paper and mounted on outdoor platforms. Every few days, technicians removed the paper coatings to analyze the settled particles in a laboratory for the presence of coal. Samples were collected for 30 days.[3]
The study demonstrated that coal was prevalent in airborne particles, with as much as 45% of collected airborne being un-combusted coal in one measurement period at the station located at 15th Street and Wickham Avenue.[4][5] City Manager J. C. Biggins reported to Newport News City Council that some stations were destroyed during the study period.[4]
These results compelled the then Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railroad Company to install equipment to create a water fog over the coal piles at the terminal to suppress dust.[5]
Outcome was fog curtain
Biggins provided draft ordinance designed to control the sources of air pollution, including from coal terminals.
Documents
- Newport News to Analyze Smoke and Soot Nuisance in Garden-Shores Sector, Daily Press, April 4, 1954
- Study of Air Pollution Set to Start Soon, Daily Press, September 21, 1956
- 10 Dust Collection Stations, Daily Press, October 4, 1956
- Council, Daily Press, November 27, 1956
- Council, Daily Press, December 4, 1956
- C&O to Install Costly Equipment for Control of Air Pollution in NN, Daily Press, December 12, 1956
- Council Gets Air Pollution Control Plan, Daily Press, December 18, 1956
- Annual PM10 Monitoring Data Report for Norfolk Southern’s Coal Pier – Lambert's Point, Norfolk, Virginia, October 11, 2016
- Public Health Implications of PM10 Concentrations Collected near Lambert’s Point Coal Terminal, July 19, 2017
References
- ↑ Newport News to Analyze Smoke and Soot Nuisance in Garden-Shores Sector, Daily Press, April 4, 1954.
- ↑ Study of Air Pollution Set to Start Soon, Daily Press, September 21, 1956.
- ↑ 10 Dust Collection Stations, Daily Press, October 4, 1956.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Council, Daily Press, December 4, 1956.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 C&O to Install Costly Equipment for Control of Air Pollution in NN, Daily Press, December 12, 1956.