BUTLER/CUNNINGHAM

This page presents some environmental facts about air and lists some links to organizations concerned with air quality.

This site will change from time to time. Basic organization will remain constant.

click here to contact Mike Polioudakis, site developer

polioej@acesag.auburn.edu

Level 2

ENVIRONMENT FACTS:

AIR

Selection of Similar Pages

Because Alabama has little manufacturing compared to the Midwest, and because its population (and automobiles) are generally well-dispersed, Alabama does not have many serious problems with air quality. Most of the problems are in the three urban areas of Mobile, Montgomery and Birmingham. Mobile always has had some air quality problems that are peculiar to itself and have little to do with environmental use or management. It is located near the ocean, has high humidty, and can suffer from stagnant air lingering over it and/or high mold counts.

Birmingham's air quality problems stem from its many automobiles and from the large coal fired generating plants located around it. Although the coal fired generating plants have made many technical improvements and now use a type of coal that is considerably cleaner than in the past, they continue to cause air problems for some people. The air quality problems in Birmingham might be aggaravated because it is in a region of hills and valleys where the valleys tend to trap air.

The American Lung Association rates Birmingham air as needing improvement and as occassionally dangerous for people with respiratory diseases such as asthma (see first of four buttons). The second button in the set leads to a report from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy called "Clearing the Air". The Third button of the set lead to a report from the set of US Public Interest Groups (US PIRGs) called "Darkening Skies" about the general problems with energy production. The fourth button leads to a more optimistic assessment of Alabama's energy profile from the US Department of Energy.