Open AccessDesign and Feasibility Assessment of a Retrospective Epidemiological Study of Coal-Fired Power Plant Emissions in the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Region
Author(s) -
Richard A. Bilonick,
Daniel Connell,
Evelyn O. Talbott,
Jeanne V. Zborowski,
Myoung Kim
Publication year - 2006
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/921002
Subject(s) - particulates , power station , meteorology , coal , environmental science , coal combustion products , operations research , statistics , engineering , geography , waste management , mathematics , ecology , electrical engineering , biology
Eighty-nine (89) percent of the electricity supplied in the 35-county Pittsburgh region (comprising parts of the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Maryland) is generated by coal-fired power plants making this an ideal region in which to study the effects of the fine airborne particulates designated as PM{sub 2.5} emitted by the combustion of coal. This report demonstrates that during the period from 1999-2006 (1) sufficient and extensive exposure data, in particular samples of speciated PM{sub 2.5} components from 1999 to 2003, and including gaseous co-pollutants and weather have been collected, (2) sufficient and extensive mortality, morbidity, and related health outcomes data are readily available, and (3) the relationship between health effects and fine particulates can most likely be satisfactorily characterized using a combination of sophisticated statistical methodologies including latent variable modeling (LVM) and generalized linear autoregressive moving average (GLARMA) time series analysis. This report provides detailed information on the available exposure data and the available health outcomes data for the construction of a comprehensive database suitable for analysis, illustrates the application of various statistical methods to characterize the relationship between health effects and exposure, and provides a road map for conducting the proposed study. In addition, a detailed work plan for conducting the study is provided and includes a list of tasks and an estimated budget. A substantial portion of the total study cost is attributed to the cost of analyzing a large number of archived PM{sub 2.5} filters. Analysis of a representative sample of the filters supports the reliability of this invaluable but as-yet untapped resource. These filters hold the key to having sufficient data on the components of PM{sub 2.5} but have a limited shelf life. If the archived filters are not analyzed promptly the important and costly information they contain will be lost