Should you go for a run today? If you live in Chinatown, you may want to stick to the treadmill. The neighborhood is strangled by major highways and roads, and every day thousands of automobiles pump harmful pollutants into the air. Over the years, studies from Tufts University School of Medicine have measured high levels of ultrafine particles in Chinatown. In 2019 the area received the dubious distinction of having the worst air quality in the state.
Low air quality is linked to higher incidences of asthma, cardiovascular disease, and lung cancer. It also tends to impact low-income and immigrant communities disproportionately. Air quality monitoring is an important tool for people to make informed decisions about their health, such as whether to exercise outside or to stay in, but as of now there are no air monitoring stations directly in Chinatown. According to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), this is about to change.
MassDEP measures air quality via 23 air monitoring stations across the state. They plan to establish a new station in the Chinatown neighborhood in 2023, which would allow residents to access real-time data about air quality in Chinatown as well as the health implications of those data. We spoke to Sean Dunn, Deputy Division Director for the MassDEP Air Assessment Branch, about the importance of air monitoring sites and how people can use the information these sites generate.
Dunn explains that MassDEP’s air monitoring program allows for more communication with communities, since the sites constantly collect data that are recorded and able to be viewed online or through mobile apps. MassDEP is also on a strict reporting schedule to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the federal agency established by President Richard Nixon in 1970 and which is responsible for enforcing environmental laws. Dunn notes that MassDEP and the EPA are both primarily concerned with whether air quality in the state meets the threshold for air pollutants. MassAir Online, the site through which MassDEP shares this data, rates air quality with the Air Quality Index (AQI), the EPA’s standard.
A year-to-date view of the data suggests that air quality in Massachusetts is generally well under the threshold beyond which air quality is unhealthy. This does not account for Chinatown, of course. The studies that have measured air quality in Chinatown report dangerously elevated levels of fine particles, and an air monitoring station in the Chinatown neighborhood would be able to give minute-by-minute accounts of these pollutants. It could also be the first step to action.
Dunn stresses that MassDEP’s role is simply to collect data, but the data being collected is crucial for state and federal decision-making. If the state consistently measures dangerous levels of air pollution in Chinatown, the federal government may decide to act. Residents of Chinatown could make better decisions as well: whether to avoid strenuous activities or exercise outdoors; whether to delay going out until air quality improves; whether to go outside at all. Accessing the information is easy: Dunn pulls out his phone and shows me the EPA’s AirNow mobile app, through which you can search your area and view the air quality from nearby monitoring stations.
Establishing a new station in Chinatown would go some way toward accomplishing MassDEP’s environmental justice goals. The department is well aware that pollution has an outsized impact on historically disenfranchised communities. In their network plan released in October, they wrote of the plan to “seek input from environmental justice advocates as [the department] considers where to site the additional monitoring stations for which funding has been secured and the best way to expand the use of air sensors.” Chinatown is one of the places MassDEP has determined is in need of a monitoring station.
Another part of environmental justice is ensuring that knowledge is shared with the communities that need it. Dunn tells me of the importance of community outreach and opportunities to present MassDEP’s findings, and indeed, he spoke to me after participating on a panel discussion on public health issues in Chinatown held at the Asian American Civic Association (AACA). The discussion was part of a series of public health community forums held at AACA. Dunn gave a presentation to community members and residents about MassDEP’s work and their plans to monitor air quality in Chinatown.
“We want to focus on community needs,” Dunn says, and community forums allow city and state employees to learn what these needs are. They can solicit feedback directly from residents. Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn, also present at the AACA forum, has long known about pollution problems in Chinatown because of what people living in Chinatown have told him. In response to a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists about Chinatown’s air quality, Flynn said, “I’m not surprised by the findings. I hear about this every day from the people of Chinatown.” MassDEP plans to respond to the residents’ needs in the upcoming year. An air monitoring station in Chinatown can keep us safe and informed, and may even lead to legislation that can protect Chinatown residents in the future.
