Willow Glen Resident

News

CAAP says air-monitoring station is a good use of fines

By Monica Heger

Ignorance may be bliss, but according to members of Citizens Against Airport Pollution, ignorance about the air quality around the airport could be detrimental to a resident's health.

Members of CAAP want to see an air-monitoring station at the Mineta San Jose International Airport to measure the level of pollutants in the area.

Now that the airport has amassed approximately $200,000 in curfew violation fines, the members say this is an ideal opportunity to do so.

The airport plans to use the curfew violation fines for a community benefit project, and is soliciting community input on such as project. CAAP thinks an air-monitoring station at the airport would be a good use for those funds.

"Airplanes create a lot of fumes and smog-producing entities," said Kenneth Hayes, chair of CAAP. "We feel that there's going to be a decreased air quality, and we're concerned about the number of cancer-producing substances. We're concerned about the people working at the airport and the surrounding neighborhoods."

CAAP member Ed Hodges said there are eight air-monitoring stations around Santa Clara County, but none at the airport, which has been in operation for 40 years.

"I think it's a can of worms that some people don't want to open," Hodges said.

Frank Schiavo, another CAAP member, calls the lack of an air-monitoring station at the airport an "abysmal oversight."

"Any factory producing that amount of pollution would be required to have the air assessed," he said. "The public has a right to know."

In general, air quality in the Silicon Valley is below the goals established by the federal Clean Air Act. The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition has a series of maps on its website, www.svtc.org., that outlines cancer cases attributable to air pollution. It finds a person living in Santa Clara County has a cancer risk from air pollutants ranging from about 48 to 1,500 in one million. This number is well above the Clean Air Act's goal of one in one million cancer cases caused by air pollution.

To propose an idea for use of curfew violation fines, go to the Mineta International Airport website www.sjc.org.