Placing a truck stop near an elementary school is a bad idea, for many reasons. The most compelling one is that diesel exhaust damages lung development in children.
A carefully designed study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine (the nation’s leading medical journal), showed this conclusively. The study followed over 1,700 children for eight years, measuring levels of diesel-related air pollution at multiple sites in each of the 12 communities where these children lived.
Children exposed to diesel exhaust were five times more likely to have underdeveloped lungs (equivalent to a 40-year-old) compared to children with less exposure, and are unlikely ever to recover the lost lung function.
Since reduced lung function is a well-established and strong risk factor for health problems during adulthood, this means that a truck stop near an elementary school could have persistent, life-long effects on the children attending that school.
The truck stop applicant states that the prevailing wind direction at Exit 24 would blow air pollution away from the school. This is misleading. Prevailing winds differ from surface winds which, in mountainous areas like ours, are largely determined by wind circulation between mountains and valleys.
National Weather Service data show that surface winds in Meadowview come from multiple directions, and blow toward as well as away from the school. At times there is no wind at all to clear the air at Exit 24.
Further, though diesel technology is changing, even the newest exhaust mitigation efforts do not remove the small particulates of diesel exhaust. These are the most damaging because they penetrate so deeply into lung tissue.
County leaders should insist that the truck stop be located at Exit 22 (a more appropriate location), and provide incentives to defray additional costs of site preparation. Save both jobs and children.
Nancy Blaney
Abingdon, Va.
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