Where the air is never spared

By Tom Molanphy : 48hills – excerpt

Bayview Hunters Point activists install air monitors to honor the memory of activist Marie Harrison

“Do the right thing,” Marie Harrison admonished the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in June, 2018. “You know it’s not safe yet.”

Harrison was accepting a commendation for defending her beloved Bayview Hunters Point from pollution.

Less than a year later, she died of a lung disease most likely caused by the air she breathed.

In February, community activists of Bayview Hunters Point will honor Harrison’s life with more than a plaque. A neighborhood committee will propose ten sites for air monitors, sponsored through grant funding from AB 617 and supported by the California Air Resources Board and Bay Area Air Quality District. The system will track pollution to help prevent losing more lives like Harrison’s in the Bayview…

Sierra Magazine reported in December that, due to wildfires, San Francisco particulate concentrations reached 197 µg/m3 , over five times higher than the EPA guideline for 24-hour PM2.5 exposure.…(more)