Air Pollution Meeting Focuses on Ozone, Air Quality Center Plans and Power Plant Tour

April 2, 2002

University Park, Pa. --- A symposium on the use of native plants as ozone air pollution detectors, a first look at plans for Penn State's Air Quality Learning and Demonstration Center and a field trip to an electric power generation station near Johnstown will highlight the 34^th annual Air Pollution Workshop being hosted by Penn State's air pollution and forest effects research programs April 16-18.

Dr. John Skelly, professor of plant pathology, is the local workshop organizer and host.  Wick Havens, chief of the Division of Air Resource Management, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP), Bureau of Air Quality, will present the keynote speech.  Workshop topics include Ozone, Monarch Butterfly and Milkweeds, Setting National Ambient Air Quality Standards, Ozone Injury to Plants and discussions of Future Research Needs.  Attendees are coming from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Nepal and Japan.

On Tuesday, April 16 at the Workshop, Skelly will unveil plans for Penn State's Air Quality Learning and Demonstration Center in a formal ceremony to honor financial supporters of the project including the PA DEP Bureau of Air Quality, Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences and The Environmental Resources Research Institute, Allegheny Energy Supply, Monroeville, and Reliant Energy, Inc., Johnstown. Larry Myers, environmental policy director, will represent Allegheny Energy and Vince Brucini, environmental manager, will represent Reliant Energy at the ceremony.

Current plans call for the Air Quality Learning and Demonstration Center to be sited in the future Penn State Arboretum and to include a seasonally interactive display of air quality monitoring instrumentation, highlighting the most up-to-date air quality monitoring equipment for determining air quality measurements and reporting methods and a garden area with pollution sensitive plants known as bioindicators..

The electric power plant tour will take participants to Conemaugh Station where 640 tons of coal are used per hour.  The station has a very aggressive air pollution control program and participants will be given a behind-the-scenes tour. 

The Workshop will be held at the Days Inn and is open only to registered participants.  To register, contact Dr. John Skelly at jms34@psu.edu or 814-865- 7584.

**plc**

EDITORS:  Dr. Skelly and other workshop participants will be available for interviews. 

Contact Patricia Craig plc103@psu.edu or 814-863-0037.