Dirty Air Culprit: Old Boilers

When a report from the city"s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene detailed street-level pollutants in the five boroughs, the Upper East Side was found to be's somewhat surprisingly's one of the dirtiest neighborhoods. Traffic in the area, which is home to the 59th Street Bridge, the RFK Bridge and the FDR Drive, certainly affects air quality. But the survey found that oil-burning furnaces are big pollution contributors, and these furnaces are often found in the decades-old tenement style buildings and prewar apartments that populate the neighborhood. These buildings burn a heavier grade of oil that produces a large chunk of the city"s pollution. â??We"ve known for a while that the biggest problem on the Upper East Side is its buildings, said Michael Auerbach, president of an environmental advocacy group, Upper Green Side. â??This neighborhood now has health safety dangers. Not only do [building emissions] contribute to global warming, but asthma, heart problems and lung problems. A separate study by the Environmental Defense Fund estimated that one percent of the city"s buildings that burn the dirtiest grades of oil's known as No. 4 and No. 6 oil's accounts for 87 percent of the soot pollution. The Upper East Side, as well as lower Manhattan and the West Side, have a high number of buildings that burn these dangerous oils, according to the fund. The result is high levels of fine particles, elemental carbon, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide's the four pollutants the city had been tracking throughout the year. The city"s survey states that these pollutants have â??adverse health effects, and cause lung irritation and other respiratory problems, such as asthma and emphysema. Seniors and children are especially at risk. â??It"s been the case for years that New York City air does not meet [Environmental Protection Agency] clean air standards for air pollutants that are known to be harmful, said Dr. Thomas Matte, director of environmental research at the health department. â??If someone lives in a neighborhood where there"s more exposure to air pollution and they have a health condition that predisposes them, they are more likely to be affected. But the Upper East Side doesn"t see as many of these health problems as other neighborhoods. There are higher rates of asthma and other respiratory problems in neighborhoods like the South Bronx and Harlem, for example, though Matte said these could be explained by factors like poor access to health care and exposure to pollutants in the home. To decrease the amount of emissions a building gives off, Auerbach of Upper Green Side urges residents to lobby their co-op boards or management companies to make the switch to a cleaner grade of oil. On the heels of the earlier report, the city"s office of long term planning and sustainability is planning to phase out the use of No. 4 and No. 6 oils in favor of No. 2 oil, which burns cleaner. Mary Barber, campaign director for the Environmental Defense Fund, notes that No. 2 oil can cost between 10 and 30 percent more than current fuels, depending on the market. But she said that costs can be kept down through boiler maintenance. â??We believe from a health perspective, it"s important to do this, Barber said. The Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums, a not-for-profit that represents buildings in the New York area, wouldn"t necessarily be opposed to such a switch. But Mary Ann Rothman, the organization"s executive director, said the city should give building owners ample time to upgrade fuel and boilers, and even provide funds for such projects, which can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. â??If there"s time to do it or funding available to do it, I think we"ll have a lot of enthusiasm, Rothman said. â??I think we all want to help the environment as much as humanly possible.