Decision on Lead Emissions Weighs Heavily on EPA

Charles, Dan

doi:10.1126/science.316.5827.973b

Cited by 1 publication

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“…At the next step, soil remediation or removal could prove unrealistic or prohibitively expensive. Data from both Los Angeles and El Paso indicate that meeting the suggested 0.020 µg Pb m −3 air limit would involve significant soil remediation [8] , [9] . Future recommendations for a lower standard will require careful evaluation of soil resuspension to weigh the societal health benefits against the economic expense.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This represents an order-of-magnitude decrease from their 3-decades-old standard of 1.5 µg Pb m −3 air. Nonetheless, it was reported that independent researchers and some members of the EPA's scientific advisory panel supported stricter limits, as low as 0.02 µg Pb m −3 air [8] , [9] . Reaching societal decisions on the regulation of airborne lead requires a comprehensive understanding of the sources of airborne lead and the means by which this burden can be lowered most efficaciously.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Urban Airborne Lead: X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy Establishes Soil as Dominant Source

et al. 2009

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BackgroundDespite the dramatic decrease in airborne lead over the past three decades, there are calls for regulatory limits on this potent pediatric neurotoxin lower even than the new (2008) US Environmental Protection Agency standard. To achieve further decreases in airborne lead, what sources would need to be decreased and what costs would ensue? Our aim was to identify and, if possible, quantify the major species (compounds) of lead in recent ambient airborne particulate matter collected in El Paso, TX, USA.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe used synchrotron-based XAFS (x-ray absorption fine structure) to identify and quantify the major Pb species. XAFS provides molecular-level structural information about a specific element in a bulk sample. Pb-humate is the dominant form of lead in contemporary El Paso air. Pb-humate is a stable, sorbed complex produced exclusively in the humus fraction of Pb-contaminated soils; it also is the major lead species in El Paso soils. Thus such soil must be the dominant source, and its resuspension into the air, the transfer process, providing lead particles to the local air.Conclusions/SignificanceCurrent industrial and commercial activity apparently is not a major source of airborne lead in El Paso, and presumably other locales that have eliminated such traditional sources as leaded gasoline. Instead, local contaminated soil, legacy of earlier anthropogenic Pb releases, serves as a long-term reservoir that gradually leaks particulate lead to the atmosphere. Given the difficulty and expense of large-scale soil remediation or removal, fugitive soil likely constrains a lower limit for airborne lead levels in many urban settings.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%