(May 20, 2005) -- Combining scientific high tech with the internet to let LB residents see real time pollution data "as it happens," LBHUSH2, a grassroots group dedicated to "ensuring that the LB Airport does not degrade our quality of life in LB," and California Earth Corps, a techno-savvy environmental group headed by Lakewood resident Don May, have announced they will be setting up multiple monitors with sophisticated instrumentation to study the effects of jet fuel emissions and other potential health hazards that may be related to LB airport activity.

The groups say the cutting-edge monitoring system will enable LB residents to see real time pollution data on their computer.

In a written release, the two groups said they'll begin their study using a Magee Scientific Aethalometer with "the capability of collecting, identifying and reporting airborne particulate matter in real time. The technology will allow the residents of Long Beach to view immediate readings via their computer."

The release said the CA Earth Corps/LBHUSH2 study "will employ multiple monitoring locations and unlike the single air monitoring station of AQMD located in Bixby Knolls [3600 block LB Blvd.], these stations will concentrate on airborne aircraft pollutants surrounding Long Beach Airport."

The release added, "The study will analyze airborne particulates to determine their source and report the immediate level of exposure. These particles were identified in the recent 2004 USC study as substances that are detrimental to children’s lung development. Since 1996, these particulates have been determined by OEHHA, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, to be "known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects and reproductive damage."

LBHUSH2 says it supports efforts to "Modernize, not Supersize" LB Airport.

LBReport.com, which has for years maintained permanent links to AQMD's Multiple Airborne Toxics Exposure Study (MATES-II) (including maps modeling areas of projected increased cancer risk) and data from AQMD's single LB monitoring site (with comparisons to two AQMD OC sites), plans to add links to the real time CA Earth Corps/LBHUSH2 multiple monitoring site data as it becomes available.