Eco Systems

Eco Systems

Environmental Issues in Cleveland Ohio

    One of the major issues that Cleveland has is air pollution; this is caused by our coal-burning
power plants. These power plants provide 90% of all electricity for Cleveland, but the problems that have been caused are mainly health issues, like asthma, heart attacks and deaths due to breathing problems. The Clean Air Task Force which is based in Boston claims that these power plants produce toxins like Sulfur Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxide which are the main causes of health related problems. In order to reduce the amount of Sulfur Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxide, the clean air bill made it mandatory to have scrubbers installed in the power plants. With the installation of these scrubbers, it has reduced the output of these toxins into the air.
      According to the Ohio Environmental Council and the American Lung Association of Ohio, there are still steps to be taken to make the air safer to breath. They are pushing for the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to strengthen and finalize more stringent rules on sulfur, nitrogen oxide, and particulates to make the air cleaner for future generations. I believe that this is related to both human values and environmental ethics because with all the pollutants that coal burning power plants put out into the air, it has caused many health problems for everyone. If they can find a cleaner way to burn coal for power or find other alternatives to produce the electricity that is needed then the air quality would improve significantly and the health risk would decrease.

Reference: cleveland.com/metro/2010/09/environment_groups_rap_coal-bu.html
Environment groups rap coal-burning power plants for health problems in Ohio, United States
Published: September 09,2010 by Michael Scott, newspaper reporter for The Plain Dealer