Local Air Monitoring

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Southeast Newport News Atmospheric Pollution Survey, 1956

In the mid-1950s, the 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 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 produced evidence that coal was prevalent in airborne particles, with as much as 45% of airborne dust 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 Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railroad Company to install equipment to create a water fog over the coal piers to suppress dust.[5] A second outcome was that City Manager J. C. Biggins presented a draft local ordinance designed to control air pollution sources, including the coal terminals, to the Newport News City Council for approval.[6]

Control of Fugitive Emissions from Open Coal Storage in Newport News, Virginia, 1987

In January 1987, the State Air Pollution Control Board (APCB) published a study on coal dust emissions from the terminals in Southeast Newport News: Control of Fugitive Emissions from Open Coal Storage in Newport News, Virginia. As part of this study, researchers developed a mathematical formula relating meteorological conditions, PM10 concentrations, and concentrations of un-combusted coal in particulate matter. The study is the basis for the water sprinkler dust suppression system, developing specific guidelines for when sprinklers must be turned on and how much water should be applied. To read more about the results of this study: Particulate Matter and Coal Dust Wet Dust Suppression

Air Permit-Related Monitoring

Coal export terminals periodically conduct routine PM10 monitoring as required by their minor New Source Review (NSR) air permits.

PM10: Dominion Terminal Associates, Kinder Morgen Bulk Terminals, the former Massey Terminal, and the Norfolk Southern Terminal have provided the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VA DEQ) with 24-hour averaged PM10 filter-based measurements collected on a one day in six days schedule. This monitoring is often conducted by a third-party contractor, for example, Simpson Weather Associates Inc.. The exact location of monitoring is not always apparent nor is it clear whether PM10 measurements are currently being collected.
These data are typically discussed by terminal and VA DEQ employees in terms of identifying days when PM10 mass concentrations exceed the 24-hour PM10 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) of 150 μg per m3. These data are not reported publicly but some reports are available through requests to the VA DEQ under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (VFOIA) and are archived below. There are no recorded instances of 24-hour PM10 concentrations being observed to exceed the 24-hour PM10 NAAQS. However, there are periods where data are withheld or otherwise not reported for reasons that are unexplained.
PM10 composition and particle size: In October 5, 1989, the IIT Research Institute analyzed the PM10 composition of samples collected near Dominion Terminal Associates reporting: "raw coal represented 49% (40 μg/m3), 44% (52 μg/m3) and 27% (16 μg/m3) of the sample mass in the three full analysis samples with the highest PM10 levels, and 18% (4 μg/m3) of the sample mass in the low PM10 concentration sample (see Table 1)."[7]

VDH Letter Health Consultation Dataset, 2017

Map of the Norfolk Southern Pier 6 Terminal and approximate location of monitoring stations from the VDH Letter Health Concern.
Map from the VDH Letter Health Concern. Neither the HRSD or ADMIN monitoring stations are downwind of the Norfolk Southern Pier 6 Terminal when winds blow from the facility into Lambert's Point.[8]

In July 2017, the VDH Division of Environmental Epidemiology, in cooperation with the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), issued a Letter Health Consultation examining the public health implications of PM10 in Lambert's Point. According to the report, VDH did the consultation because of ongoing community concerns about coal dust. Under a VA DEQ-approved monitoring plan, Norfolk Southern voluntarily operated three PM10 regulatory monitors at two locations near the Norfolk Southern Pier 6 Terminal between August 2015 and July 2016. The Letter Health Consultation does not indicate the exact location of the PM10 monitors. However, from the map provided by the VDH shown here, the monitors are not positioned to be downwind of most of the Norfolk Southern Pier 6 Terminal on days when winds blow over the facility and into the Lambert's Point neighborhood. The HSRD monitor could be considered a background measurement, as when winds are from the southwest, airflow to this monitor nearly entirely misses the Norfolk Southern Pier 6 Terminal.

The VDH report concluded that PM10 concentrations measured at the monitoring sites were below the NAAQS and therefore "not expected to harm people’s health." The report is illustrative, showing how public health determinations are made within narrow regulatory and technological boundaries, even in the presence of visible environmental harm such as black residues on buildings and persistent community concern. The report framed health risk through NAAQS compliance rather than lived exposure or cumulative burden.

Notably, VDH applied a pervasive misconception about PM10, which is that it is composed of material that is not harmful. It is generally true that as particles get smaller, they penetrate more deeply into our bodies and cause more harm. In fact, there is no known safe level of expose to fine particles (PM2.5). But PM2.5 composed of toxic metals is known to be especially harmful, and, for people living near a major source of metals, concentrations of toxic metals in PM10 have been found to correlate with metals concentrations in residents' blood. In the Letter Health Consultation, the VDH relied on conclusions about the health impacts of PM10 derived from research on PM10 composition measurements across six U.S. cities. This research found that typical urban dust was composed of material that was not associated with increased mortality. However, it is a false assertion that coal dust has the same composition as urban dust on average. Such logic would not stand up to scientific peer review.

Sierra Club Coal Dust Analysis

The Sierra Club Virginia Chapter commissioned a report analyzing dust samples from five homes. The samples contained high amounts (20–70%) of coal-like particles.[9][10][11]

Voices Network: Voices Organizing In opposition to Coal dust with Environmental Sensing

The VOICES Network: Voices Organizing In opposition to Coal dust with Environmental Sensing has measured PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 across Southeast Newport News and Lambert's Point since October 2024. The monitors are maintained by the Repair Lab as part of the Coal Dust Kills campaign. Read about the VOICES Network: VOICES Network

Tidewater Air Monitoring Evaluation (TAME)

The VA DEQ received $526,603 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2020 to conduct the Tidewater Air Monitoring Evaluation (TAME),[12] which according to the VA DEQ was motivated by community concerns about coal dust pollution.[13] After multiple years of delays, data collection and analysis are yet to start with no timeline publicly available. TAME is described in detail: TAME

Documents

Air Permit-Related Monitoring

Dominion Terminal Associates

VDH Letter Health Consultation Dataset, 2017

References

  1. ↑ Newport News to Analyze Smoke and Soot Nuisance in Garden-Shores Sector, Daily Press, April 4, 1954.
  2. ↑ Study of Air Pollution Set to Start Soon, Daily Press, September 21, 1956.
  3. ↑ 10 Dust Collection Stations, Daily Press, October 4, 1956.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Council, Daily Press, December 4, 1956.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 C&O to Install Costly Equipment for Control of Air Pollution in NN, Daily Press, December 12, 1956.
  6. ↑ Council Gets Air Pollution Control Plan, Daily Press, December 18, 1956.
  7. ↑ IIT Research Institute, Air Monitoring Data Report, October 5, 1989.
  8. ↑ Public Health Implications of PM10 Concentrations Collected near Lambert's Point Coal Terminal, Letter Health Consultation, Division of Environmental Epidemiology, Virginia Department of Health, July 19, 2017.
  9. ↑ Neighbors Complain of Train's Coal Dust, The News and Advance, April 26, 2015
  10. ↑ Norfolk Southern Coal Dust Spurs Worry, Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 25, 2015.
  11. ↑ Neighbors Complain of Coal Dust, Danville Register and Bee, April 25, 2015.
  12. ↑ VA DEQ, Tidewater Air Monitoring Evaluation Project.
  13. ↑ Vogelsong, Virginia will begin monitoring air pollution around Hampton Roads coal terminals, Virginia Mercury, April 19, 2022.
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