Executive Director of Global Community Monitoring Denny Larson shows what is inside the air-sampling unit that the TriCounty Watchdogs are using to monitor air quality in the Mountain Communities, especially along the Interstate-5 Grapevine corridor.
Linda MacKay (president of the TriCounty Watchdogs) and the Global Community Monitor project look at the Grapevine corridor on Interstate 5 and the proximity of beautiful El Tejon MIddle School to the diesel emissions of 70,000 vehicles, including 18,000 bigrig trucks,each day.
Linda MacKay said she could hardly believe CalTrans statistics showing that 18,000 big rig trucks pass through Lebec’s Grapevine each day.
“That’s an average of 12-13 trucks per minute. I had to go count to find out for myself,” MacKay said in a new video on YouTube about air pollution and risks of hazardous materials (hazmat) spills on the Interstate 5 along the Grapevine, including near El Tejon School in Lebec, which serves about 410 students in 4th through 8th grade.
Pollution pushing up from the San Joaquin Valley is a growing concern as well. As president of the TriCounty Watchdogs, MacKay has received a $20,000 grant to conduct scientific citizen monitoring of air quality in Lebec, due to its proximity to Interstate 5, the major cargo transport route for the state of California.
Lebec’s Grapevine serves as the passageway for over 70,000 vehicles per day, CalTrans indicates. See the video at www. MountainEnterprise.com.
Training sessions are taking place for the team that is placing the monitors in various sites around the area. Twenty-four hour samples are taken and the test device is sent to a laboratory for readings of the results.
Placing the air monitor on the El Tejon School grounds was on the school board agenda for their Wednesday, March 9 meeting.
This is part of the March 11, 2011 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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