A case study of potential human health impacts from petroleum coke transfer facilities.

Petroleum coke or "petcoke" is a solid material created during petroleum refinement and is distributed via transfer facilities that may be located in densely populated areas. The health impacts from petcoke exposure to residents living in proximity to such facilities were evaluated for a petcoke transfer facilities located in Chicago, Illinois. Site-specific, margin of safety (MOS) and margin of exposure (MOE) analyses were conducted using estimated airborne and dermal exposures.

Weekday versus weekend activity patterns for ozone precursor emissions in California's South Coast Air Basin.

Ambient O3 concentrations in California's South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB) can be as much as 55% higher on weekends than on weekdays under comparable meteorological conditions. This is paradoxical because emissions of O3 precursors (hydrocarbons, CO, and nitrogen oxides [NOx]) are lower on weekends. Day-of-week emissions activity data were collected and analyzed to investigate the hypothesized causes of the "weekend O3 effect.

Compilation and evaluation of a Paso del Norte emission inventory.

Emission inventories of ozone precursors are routinely used as input to comprehensive photochemical air quality models. Photochemical model performance and the development of effective control strategies rely on the accuracy and representativeness of an underlying emission inventory. This paper describes the tasks undertaken to compile and evaluate an ozone precursor emission inventory for the El Paso/Ciudad Juárez/Southern Doña Ana region.