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IL 3 I NINE Moncure N .C . s udmies Chatham 's formaldeh But emis de hyde, hydrogen fluoride and Rick Givens. y hydrochloric acid. sions alone don't tell the emissions ranked highest Companies with manufacturing full story of air quality, said Don van of 3, 219 U.S. counties and chemical plants in the region der Vaart of the Air Quality Divi- include CP&L's Cape Fear plant, sion. They don't typically remain By GEOFFREY M . GRAYBEAL Cherokee Sanford Group , S .T. near where they are produced, he Wooten, Honeywell, Dynea USA and said . Most of North Carolina's emis- IN ggraybeal@heraidsun. com; 9184033 Sierra Pine sions are blown to Bermuda, he said. PITTSBORO — State officials are The division will try to assess the N. C. State University engineering students reported in May , that "real risks" to area residents, he studying the air around Moncure after one report suggests industrial Chatham County had the highest said. emissions of formaldehyde and formaldehyde emissions of 3 ,219 The division plans to study other other pollutants there might be U.S. counties, as well as high levels chemicals in the next two weeks of sulfur dioxide* with recent data from the facilities, among the highest in the nation. "I guess what was shocking to all said Mark Yoder, also from the state The N.C. Division of Air Quality of us is you want to be No. 1 at some- Air Quality Division* began collecting data earlier this thing , but not for polluting month and plans to study formalde- formaldeh ' a le," said Commissioner plea �% See MONCURE/PAGE 2 u MONCURE ing to monitor it," she said. "We're Resources told the commissioners worried about health, and you they would keep the lines of com- haven't talked about health risks ." munication open and report back FROM PAGE 1 Van der Vaart said he wasn't sure the study's results as soon as the how reliable monitoring would be information was available. Commissioner Margaret Pollard since it would vary daily and it's Commissioners Chairman Gary asked what the divisIN ion would do to unknown if there is a specific loca- Phillips said the data is important allay needless fears * lion that the emissions are worse as the county tries to find a bal- One resident in the crowd at the than others . anced solution to a possible prob- commissioners' July 15 work ses- . "It's like looking for a needle in a lem. sion, where the division's report haystack, these hot spots, because "We want to support our indus- was given, said the data is from the wind blows every which way, tries, but we also want to support 1987 to 1991 , with surface readings he said. safety for all our citizens," he said. from the Shearon Harris nuclear While Van der Vaart didn't com- Givens said Moncure's air quali- power plant and other measure- pletely rule out the possibility of ty is of great concern to the com- ments from . the National Weather on-site monitors , he said that at a missioners. Service station in Greensboro. The cost of $50,000 each it would have "Moncure has historically been 'dent called for monitoring to be carefully considered . known as the dumping ground of instead of computer modeling . The members from the Divisi res on Chatham County, and we want to "It would be reassuring to many of Air Quality and Department on change all that," he said. "We want of us to know . . . that you are will- Environment and Natural to help ." THE CHAPEL HILL HERALD Monday, July 22 , 2002