Calif. power outs raise pollution worries

Generators, car tie-ups release more emissions

Power shutdowns intended to prevent more devastating California wildfires are raising new concerns about another longstanding environmental threat: air pollution.

As utilities halted service to more than 2 million people this week, lines formed at hardware stores selling portable generators, while many hospitals and businesses fired up their own. The prospect of emissions belching from untold numbers of the machines, some powered by diesel and gasoline as well as propane and natural gas, was troubling in a state already burdened with some of the nation’s worst air quality.

“It is a major concern,” said Dr. Laki Tisopulos, executive officer of the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District. “Imagine if you are in a large metropolitan area like Los Angeles or the (San Francisco) Bay Area and you have hundreds or thousands of these engines kicking in. All of a sudden you have many localized sources of pollution that are spewing carcinogens right where we breathe. It can be next door to a school, a hospital.”

Questions also arose over how the blackouts might affect traffic patterns, potentially causing even more tie-ups and discharges than usual from vehicles. They are a leading factor in California air pollution, along with a warm, sunny climate that helps produce ozone and topographical features such as the Central Valley where polluted air often stagnates.

“It’s on people’s minds in the air quality world,” said Kristine Roselius, spokeswoman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which tracks air pollution and sets regulations in a nine-county region that includes San Francisco.

“The wildfires that are driven by climate change and all the consequences of that are certainly a new normal and it’s constantly emerging,” Roselius said.

The district had not detected any uptick in contamination levels at its more than 30 air quality monitoring gauges, although the high winds that prompted the power shutdowns could be dispersing them, she said Friday.

Staffers will be watching for spikes in pollutants including nitrogen oxides and small, sooty particles, which generators tend to produce, she said.

Government officials and experts said pollution from emergency power during intentional blackouts is one more wrinkle for planners dealing with a constant threat of catastrophic infernos and more extreme weather.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co., the state’s largest electricity provider, announced its shutdowns as forecasts called for gusts that could knock trees and limbs into power lines and spark flames.