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Not all cars pollute Kern's air equally
| Wednesday, Jul 5 2006 10:05 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Jul 5 2006 10:53 PM
What do a 2005 Ford GT, a 2000 BMW M5 and a 1997 GMC C1500 Yukon have in common? They're all really bad for our air.
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According to a study released in June, not all cars pollute equally. And combined with Bakersfield's already heavily polluted air, hot weather and geography, experts say the kind of car you drive, regardless of whether it's old or new, could be a potential polluter.
The Auto Asthma Index, put together by the Environmental Working Group, correlates bad air and polluting vehicles with asthma-suffering children.
Found online at www.cleancarsforkids.org, the index looks at cars from 1985 to 2006 and ranks the best and worst cars according to those years, breaking out categories for small, medium and large cars, as well as minivans and SUVs.
The study then relates the car data with the known environmental information on specific cities and their weather and geographical information.
"We designed it as a tool that people would e-mail to their friends. Consumer-friendly," said Bill Walker, vice president of the group.
With the search feature, users can look up their own car or scan through the lists of car data for Bakersfield.
According to the site, among the most polluting cars of the 2006 models in Bakersfield are the Ford 250 Econoline, the Chrysler Town & Country, the Dodge Ram 1500 Pickup and the Chevrolet K2500 Avalanche. Those cars may be two or three times as polluting as the cleanest-running vehicles.
But they're still not as polluting as older models.
Some 6-year-old cars can be as much as 17 times more polluting than the cleanest-running vehicle.
A 2000 BMW 750i Luxury Protection is 24 times more polluting than the cleanest-running large car, according to the site. The popular 2004 Hummer H2 is 28 times more polluting.
A 1999 Toyota Camry is 53 times more polluting and a 1996 Volkswagen Jetta GLX is 93 times more polluting than its cleanest-running car counterpart.
The study also points out the cars least harmful to Bakersfield's air quality, such as the 2000 Chevrolet Impala, a 2004 Saturn Vue or 1998 Ford Ranger, which is only three times more polluting than the cleanest truck on the road.
"We want to start getting people to think about air pollution as a public health issue," Walker said. "On a practical level we want to give people information that will help them make smart choices."
But when shopping for the right car, smart shopping isn't always environmentally friendly shopping.
With budget and kids as a factor, some local car owners are more interested in convenience and what's the best car for the family.
"We drive an SUV. For our family size, we need an SUV," said Bakersfield mom Sheri Condi.
Condi, who has four children, drives a 1999 Suburban, a model made by both Chevrolet and GMC.
Local real estate agent Robin Noble said she "drives a lot" and almost bought a hybrid in 2002, but decided not to because of the newness of the technology.
"I was worried that in 2002 they hadn't gotten to a point where it was reliable," Noble said, adding that she was also concerned about the cost of repairing the hybrid if it broke down.
Instead Noble got a "small" SUV, a 2002 Ford Escape. According to Environmental Working Group's rankings, her car only pollutes 9 times more than the cleanest SUV.
"They're certainly convenient," Noble said of the SUVs. "My daughter drives a Suburban, but she has so many kids it's the only way she can do it all in one trip."
And the popular SUVs are a big hit with many Bakersfield families.
The Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon ranked Nos. 3 and 6 in sales of new trucks and SUVs for the month of May. But all that love of large cars pays a price.
"It's bad. (Coming from Los Angeles) over the grapevine we could see it," she said, gesturing to the cloud of yellow air that pops into the sky as you get closer to Kern County.
Bakersfield has the worst air in the country, according to the American Lung Association, which put it ahead of chronic offenders Los Angeles and Fresno this year.
Brenda Turner, spokeswoman for the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, said the number of "Spare the Air" days had been going down in Kern County. Last year there were only 18, compared with 27 in 2004 and 41 in 2003.
But this year there have already been six "Spare the Air" days, correlating with the first major heat wave that started in June.
"Bakersfield's got over 300,000 people now. That's more people, more cars," Turner said.
And that's bad news for children suffering from asthma.
"Whenever the air quality is really bad they're breathing in things that are not only damaging to the lungs but are a trigger for the bronchial spasms," said Sharon Borradori, program director for the American Lung Association.
Borradori emphasizes that Kern County's air is "just plain bad for everybody," but their are more than 34,000 children under the age of 14 in Kern County who suffer from asthma.
In 2003, Borradori said 274 of those children had to be hospitalized -- "and that's not counting the one's who went to the emergency room and were sent home."
Asthma is one of the main causes of school absenteeism, costing about 40,000 lost school days per year.
To select more environmentally friendly vehicles to help reduce air and asthma problems, Turner of the Air Pollution Control District suggests looking for cars with better gas mileage.
"The more efficient cars are, the less they pollute," Turner said. "Although in recent years people have gone to bigger cars."
But Walker wants to take that a bit further.
Hepoints out that while lower gas mileage is often a good indicator of whether a car is a polluter, that only works for new cars.
Older vehicles become less and less environmentally friendly the longer they stay on the road.
"If a car has been on the road for over 100,000 miles, smog control equipment isn't as reliable or good," Walker said. "(The index) is meant to be a real-world check on the miles per gallon rating put out by the government."
Walker doesn't expect anyone to ditch their old car and get a new one based on the Environmental Working Group's study.
But he wouldn't mind if people would use it as a guide when they do buy a car.
"People buy cars all the time. Why don't I choose the one that's cleanest?" Walker said.
Most polluting
Small car: Chevrolet Corvette
Medium car: Buick Lacrosse/Allure
Large car: Chrysler 300C/SRT-8
Wagon: Saab 9-5 Wagon
SUV: Chevrolet K2500 Avalanche
Truck: Dodge Ram 1500 Pickup
Minivan: Chrysler Town & Country
Van: Ford E250 Econoline
Least polluting
Small car: Honda Insight
Medium car: Honda Accord
Large car: Mercedes-Benz S430
Wagon: Mercedes-Benz E430 Wagon
SUV: Lexus RX 400H
Truck: Honda Ridgeline
Minivan: Honda Odyssey
Van: Chevrolet G35
Top new cars sold in Bakersfield (May 2006)
Cars
1. Toyota Camry
2. Toyota Corolla
3. Nissan Altima
4. Honda Accord
5. Ford Crown Victoria
Trucks, SUVs, Minivans and full-sized vans
1. Ford F-Series
2. Chevrolet C/K Pickup
3. Chevrolet Tahoe
4. Dodge Ram Pickup
5. Toyota Tacoma
Source: Cross-Sell Report