Every cloud has a silver lining! Although many people in the UK were undoubtedly disappointed at experiencing the dullest August since records began, the poor weather did mean we experienced unusually clean air throughout the month. There was only one day last month when the number of monitoring stations reporting moderate concentrations of ozone rose in to double figures – on the 30th. This was for only 12 stations – compared to August last year when we had three days when 20 or more stations saw the targets broken. The only other significant events to report were in Port Talbot where monitoring recorded three days of particle pollution, including one day of ‘high’ and one day of ‘very high’ concentrations, probably related to activities at the steel works there.
The beginning of the month saw large numbers of people attending the Climate Change Camp in Kent, close to the Kingsnorth Power Station in Kent. Pollution problems from energy generation from coal are not limited simply to CO2. It has recently been announced that the UK is likely to fail to meet EU targets in 2010 for nitrogen oxides (which lead to ozone and acid rain) due to recent increases in the use of coal-fired power stations.
Tim Chatterton.
