Impact of long-range transport airborne pollution on human health in a region of the upper Ohio River Basin

Thesis/Dissertation · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1981

OSTI ID:5472941

Uribe, J

This study examines empirically the problem of long-range transport of pollutants and their impact on human health. The study focuses on airborne pollutants generated by coal-fired power plants in the Lower Ohio River Basin and transported by persistent winds into a region composed of 100 countries sharingt Ohio-Pennsylvania-West-Virginia borders in the Upper Ohio River Basin. An econometric model is constructed to generate the physical damage function relating mortality of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in three age groups to TSP, SO/sub 2/, SO/sub 4/, Population Density (PD), and Income per Capita (IC). OLS is used as the technique under two different specifications, simple multivariate regression and linear log-log. ..beta.. coefficients are generated by using total pollution concentrations for the base year 1976. The annual cumulative excess number of deaths are estimated for two time periods, 1977 to 1985 and 1986 to 2000, under two different scenarios characterized by compliance and non-compliance with State Implementation Plans regulations. Model results indicate that there is a significant relationship between mortality and the explanatory variables. SO/sub 4/ is found as the most deadly pollutant in respiratory diseases and as deadly as SO/sub 2/ in cardiovascular. A significant amount of cumulative excess deaths are found associated with outside pollutants, being the major finding that non-compliance with State Implementation Plans results in over sixty percent more deaths than it would be otherwise.

• OSTI ID: 5472941
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AIR POLLUTION
ANIMALS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHALCOGENIDES
COAL
DISEASES
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FEDERAL REGION III
FEDERAL REGION V
FOSSIL FUELS
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
FUELS
MAMMALS
MAN
MASS TRANSFER
MATERIALS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MORTALITY
NORTH AMERICA
OHIO
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTICLES
PARTICULATES
PENNSYLVANIA
POLLUTION
POPULATION DENSITY
POWER PLANTS
PRIMATES
PUBLIC HEALTH
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM DISEASES
SULFATES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR DIOXIDE
SULFUR OXIDES
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
TOTAL SUSPENDED PARTICULATES
USA
VERTEBRATES
WEST VIRGINIA