Volatile Organic Compound Emissions

The date of data from this list on scorecard.org is not known to me (yet). I was curious about volatile organic compounds, since they are known to be problematic for asthmatics. I started looking at all the bay area counties, and added the top 5 up. Looks like we are getting, by this data, 8047 TONS of Volatile Organic Compounds in the air in a year from the top 5 polluters per county alone. I would need to work with a researcher to find out if there any known effects from these quantities, and I need to find out from the EPA the most current data. Of course that isn't easy, I have been searching around epa.gov, and do not see a user-friendly data list as made available for the 6 common pollutants (Ozone, Particulate Matter, Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, Sulfur Dioxide, Lead). Perhaps the California Air Resources Board will be able to tell me.

Here is a a link to information on Volatile Organic Compounds from the Minnesota Department of Health

Lastly, I am curious about the dispersion rate of previous year's pollutants. For example, let's say 8047 TONS of VOCs were release into the air in 2000. That doesn't necessarily mean in 2001 those pollutants dissapated! There *must* be a cumulative effect taken into consideration and included in calculations. So if out of 8047 TONS of VOCs, 7500 of that blew north or east to our neighbors, that still leaves 500 EXTRA tons on top of next year's VOC count. So if in 2001 there was another 8000 tons of VOCs emitted, there should be a count of 8500 tons in the air. These numbers are completely hypothetical, of course, I am merely pointing out that I want to know if there is latency included in the measurements of VOC's. Are VOC's counted in PM10 and PM2.5 or somewhere else? I have to find out. Sigh. I feel like this is going to take a lot of work. And I must admit, being on the road for 6 weeks now is tough.

Besides being alone on the road, driving around, back and forth, is a bit draining, as is staying in hotels. However, it's something that needs to be done, and I'm willing to do it. I have a crappy travel schedule next... driving from Flagstaff to Phoenix, then Phoenix flying to Kuaui, then coming back to Phoenix, then flying out to Seattle, then back to Phoenix, then driving to San Luis Obispo, then finally, home. I need to always come back to Phoenix because if I do develop asthma in Kuaui or Seattle, I need to be able to 'reset' my asthma in Flagstaff, make it go away essentially, to test out the next city. I miss home, and can't wait for this to be over! I actually do not want to go to Seattle, but it so happens my childhood friend, Craig (who also has bad allergies like me) moved there and all of his allergies disappeared. That means there's a good chance that Seattle could have an effect on my allergies which will be real interesting to notate - how does it effect my general well being, and how does it effect my asthma? I leave for Hawaii on Monday, I will be in Kuaui, where the air is supposed to clean. From there I will be able to tell if my asthma is humidity related, or pollution related, or both.