Lynn Godfrey, an environmental justice advocate with the Sierra Club, realized that there was no comprehensive data tracking pollution in Petersburg when she first started to look into the potential effects of a local factory expansion that is predicted to release more pollution into local communities.
The Petersburg Compressor Station — technically located in Prince George County but bordering Petersburg at 1596 Baxter Road — is less than a mile away from two apartment complexes, a trailer park and a subdivision of about 50 homes, with more houses under construction directly next door. The expansion project was set to wrap up by the end of 2024.
Entrance to the Petersburg Compressor Station, September 30 2024
In the second half of 2024, Godfrey partnered with the Petersburg chapter of the NAACP and Petersburg is Growing — a nonprofit dedicated to empowering local youth to build a sustainable future — to launch the Community Air Monitoring Program. They hope to not only track the air quality near the compressor station, but also track pollution levels throughout Petersburg to best prepare the city to address local pollution issues.
Petersburg already has the highest asthma hospitalization rate in Virginia, according to the Virginia Department of Health, as well as the lowest life expectancy in the state. Adding more pollution to an already overburdened and under-resourced community could be disastrous to the health of locals, Godfrey said.
“Every little bit of pollution that you can keep from being emitted helps and every bit you don’t exacerbates the problem,” Godfrey said. “What we do now is for the next generation.”
But without mechanisms currently in place to track local air quality, there is no way for the community to know exactly what kind of pollution and potential health effects they’re dealing with, she added.
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In October, the group teamed with Virginia State University professor Matthew Whalen, who had recently started doing his own VSU-funded research into local air pollution and was working on setting up sensors throughout the community for long-term data collection on temperature and air quality in Petersburg.
Together, they have set up two air quality sensors by the Petersburg Compressor Station and an additional three throughout the city.
“Right now, we’re still in the development stages, but we’re making progress,” said Godfrey. “Our focus is very much on the youth, who will have to deal with the impact of all this, particularly African American youth. Not only teaching them how this environmental pollution impacts them but also training them how to use this technology.”
The sensors are up and running, but it will take time for the data to be comprehensive enough to draw conclusions from. The real-time air quality data from these sensors is publicly available at map.purpleair.com.
Screenshot of air quality and temperature data in Petersburg on Jan 10. 2025, as reported by PurpleAir sensors
Do you live near the compressor station and want an air quality sensor placed at your home? Contact Lynn Godfrey at lynn.godfrey@sierraclub.org or Matthew A Whalen at mwhalen@vsu.edu.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Petersburg air quality, pollution to be tracked by local advocates