Best Practice

GreenStep City Best Practices: Environmental Management
Local Air Quality {BP No. 23}

Prevent generation of local air contaminants so as to improve community health.

Best Practice Actions

1. Replace internal combustion engine yard equipment (such as lawnmowers, leaf blowers, weed whips, and snowblowers) with less-polluting electric equipment or manual tools. 
2. Reduce local burning of wood and yard waste and eliminate ‘backyard’ trash burning.
3. Reduce local vehicle pollution from vehicle idling, high-polluting vehicles, and gasoline filling stations.
4. Minimize pollution from fuel generators including portable generators, emergency generators, backup generators, and engines.
5. Install, assist with, and promote publicly available EV charging stations or public fueling stations for alternative fuel vehicles. 
6. Be “air aware” and prepare for air quality alerts.

Optional Best Practice for Step 3 Recognition

Category A cities: implement this best practice by completing any two actions.

Category B and C cities: implement this best practice by completing any one action.

Summary

Many sources of local air pollution can be addressed by cities and Tribal Nations. Taking action to reduce or prevent pollution from local sources can improve the health of people in your community. 

  • Use the air pollution scores from MPCA to identify which parts of your community have higher risks of health effects from air pollution and could benefit from targeted policies, assistance, or incentives. Click on the census block groups in your area to see what the main contributors to pollution are, then focus on reductions for those source types. 
  • Take action to reduce or prevent air pollution from city and Tribally-owned sources. 
  • Make it easier and cheaper for residents and local businesses to adopt behaviors and equipment that reduce or prevent local air pollution. 
  • Conduct education campaigns to help residents understand the positive health and climate impacts of making changes.

Combustion is the largest source of air pollutants that impact health. It’s also the largest source of air pollutants that drive climate change. Most efforts to reduce GHG pollutants will also have positive impacts on human health. 

Understanding the relationship between air pollution exposure and health impacts can be challenging – we live, work, and play in many different places, and the amount and kinds of pollution we breathe varies over time and place. Our health is also influenced by factors such as our family health history, access to health care, housing quality, and access to green space. However, some people are more likely to experience health impacts from air pollution, including children and teens, older adults, and people with chronic lung or heart diseases.

  • MPCA and MDH research found that rates of disease and death connected to air pollution were highest in communities with more residents who are low-income, uninsured, people of color, or living with a disability. 
  • MPCA’s “Air We Breathe" report finds these same demographic groups are more likely to have higher levels of air pollution in their neighborhoods. 
  • “The Air We Breathe” report identifies transportation, permitted facilities, and burning wood for heat or recreation as the main sources of air pollution most likely to affect people’s health. 

Greenstep Advisor

Lydia Godfrey headshot - blond female with below shoulder hair wearing a green mid-sleeve shirt, outside in front of a wall of greenery and floral

Lydia Godfrey, Neighborhood Air Pollution Control Lead, MPCA, Lydia.godfrey@state.mn.us, 651-757-2275, www.pca.state.mn.us/air-water-land-climate/air-quality

Connection to State Policy

While Minnesota’s overall air pollution levels typically remain within state/national standards, local air quality can be compromised by local sources of air pollution, which local and Tribal governments can address with targeted actions.

Many pollution-generating businesses are required to have an air permit from MPCA, including those with generators.

The DNR will suspend existing burning permits and not issue new ones during air quality alerts.

Benefits

Major Benefit

  • Research by the MPCA and MDH has found that air pollution in the Twin Cities metro area played a role in 10% of deaths and prompted nearly 500 hospitalizations and emergency room visits for heart and lung problems. In Duluth, Rochester, and St. Cloud, more than 8% of deaths and nearly 50 hospitalizations and emergency room visits were linked to air pollution. Rates of disease and death related to air pollution were highest in communities with more residents who are low-income, uninsured, people of color, or living with a disability. 
  • Staying informed about current air quality can help everyone make decisions about how to protect their health. City and Tribal staff and residents can visit the MPCA Air Quality Index webpages to check on current air quality, get the air quality forecast, sign up for alert emails, or download EPA’s Air Now app. The Air Now app includes wildfire smoke maps and forecasts from MPCA meteorologists. 
  • Use the environmental justice map tool to explore the locations of air pollution, pollutant sources, and areas of concern for environmental justice. Click on the “MPCA air pollution score” tab and zoom in to see the air pollution score for your area, how it compares to the rest of Minnesota, and the pollutants and sources contributing most to the air pollution score. Darker colors and higher numbers mean higher risk. Target these areas for reductions. 
  • A MN Dept. of Health website shows the percentage of residents living within 300 meters of busy roads, where air pollution from motor vehicle traffic is highest.
  • Vehicles with diesel engines represent only 10% of traffic on Minnesota roads, but contribute a significant amount of the air pollution generated by vehicles in the state. According to EPA estimates, for every dollar spent on diesel emission reductions there are $13 dollars in health benefits.
  • The American Lung Association found that “a widespread transition to electric vehicles would generate more than $1.2 trillion in health benefits and $1.7 trillion in additional climate benefits by 2050. The transition would result in up to:
  • 110,000 avoided deaths 
  • 2.79 million avoided asthma attacks 
  • 13.4 million avoided lost workdays.”
  • Residential wood smoke contains fine particles and toxic air pollutants, some of which are probable human carcinogens. If all the old wood stoves in the U.S. were changed to cleaner-burning hearth appliances, estimates are that at least $35 billion in health benefits per year could be realized from eliminating premature deaths, non-fatal heart attacks, chronic bronchitis, and asthma attacks. EPA-certified wood stoves, though much cleaner than uncertified stoves and fireplaces, still create roughly 150 times more harmful fine particles than a gas furnace.
  • Outdoor wood boilers can emit 1,000 times more pollution than traditional indoor gas and oil furnaces and warrant attention if they emit more than allowed under EPA's Step 2 fine particle emission standards. These boilers exacerbate health risks when located in more densely populated areas, in areas with steep topography, and when near large water bodies.
  • Air pollution levels in homes are often two to five times higher than outdoors, according to EPA studies. Many years of attention to indoor smoking has improved indoor air quality, and now widely available non-toxic paints, cleaners, furnishings, options to avoid fragrance chemicals, and other home products make further improvements possible.