Env 100 - Atmospheric Issues

Atmospheric Issues

ENV/100

Atmospheric Issues

Introduction

        Good evening citizens of Sparksville.  Thank you for joining the council members in reviewing the decision for a new employer in the city.  As you know, a large technology employer recently elected to move operations to South Korea.  With the departure by the tech company, the city experienced an unemployment surge.  As a result, three employers came forward as potentially replacing the void left behind by the tech company: A distribution center, a hybrid car factory, and an oil refinery.        

Possibility of Pollution        

        Each of the employers considered came with unique concerns and environmental issues.  The distribution center would not create any direct forms of pollution, water, air, or otherwise.  However, the carbon emissions from the trucks used by the facility would certainly serve as a direct source of air pollution.  The heavy truck usage would also most likely increase traffic, leading to more emissions and direct sources of primary air pollution.  The hybrid car factory could lead to large amounts of air pollution, however, water pollution is not an issue.  Carbon emissions are typical primary sources of air pollution of car factories, however the employer has promised the city that any carbon emission would be captured using scrubbers, and fed into algae ponds for conversion into organic matter.  Algae ponds require large columns of carbon to be funneled directly into the source for effective photosynthesis to occur (Putt, Singh, Chinnasamy, Das, 2011).  However, the process is not absolute, as even the most efficient and optimal algae ponds recover 90% of the deposited CO2 (Putt, Singh, Chinnasamy, Das, 2011).  Apart from the carbon emissions, the car factory does not emit any other forms of primary or secondary pollution.  The oil refinery has the potential for many forms of primary and secondary air pollution and water pollution.  Although the company promises to use the most advanced technology to control emission of hazardous chemicals, the fracking methods used by oil refineries causes some organic matter to seep into the ground water, leading to water pollution.  The smoke stacks located at the refinery also release large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere from constant drilling.

Potential Health Hazards

        I know many of you might be scared by the possible pollutants I just went over, so that is why we made sure to thoroughly investigate the health ramifications before making our selection.  Because the distribution center and the car factory would only be releasing carbon dioxide as air pollutants, the direct health hazards for the citizens are minimal.  The oil refinery, however, could lead to many immediate and long-term health effects.  Deep oil drilling releases large amounts of hydrocarbons into the ground, water, and air.  The extensive drilling releases trace amounts of cadmium, mercury, and lead from the earth into ground water sources (Soloman & Janssen, 2010).  Most of these volatile chemicals released through the process of drilling for oil lead to “respiratory irritation and central nervous system depression” (Soloman & Janssen, 2010).  Bakersfield, CA is a city that relies heavily on revenue from the oil refineries in the area.  However, this cash flow has come at a cost as now the majority of the citizens suffer from asthma and other respiratory illnesses.  As mayor of this city, I will not allow my citizens to be subjugated to this fate.