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Yes, individual communities should determine the air quality standards for their areas because each area would have a different standard. For example the Newark area air quality standard would be much lower then the other tri-state areas of New Jersey. If Newark's air quality was measured with standards that are kept for the whole state then the results would be much lower and wouldn't be right to compare the two. Having different standards per each area helps in diffrentiating between each one.

The main methods that the authors appear to use are reported data from disasters that have happened around the globe, including numbers and types of infections, displacement and crowding data, and knowledge of the disaster incidents examined

The main point of the article is to report a conflict of opinions between the NRC and the Disaster Accountability Project on the safety of the communities surrounding the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. The NRC and the company running the plant, Entergy, state that those communities within a 10 mile radius are required to have emergency evacuation plans in place should a nuclear emergency occur; those outside this radius, however, are not at as large of risk. The nonprofit, however, cites the NRC's report on the Fukushima disaster, where it recommended the US citizens within 50 miles of the plant should evacuate the area, and suggests that communities within a 50 mile radius of Indian Point have specific nuclear emergency plans at hand and prepared for use. Entergy says that the radius "provides a robust safety margin", and the NRC replies to the Disaster Accountability Project's statement by saying that the incident at Fukushima is not comparable to any nuclear power cite in the US, due to the size and number of reactors in the Fukushima plant.

Local and surrounding areas has turned their heads to think about the disaster and health for the communities. Perth Amboy, has three outfalls, and the city is continually trying to improve ways in which upgrade their water systems. The plans being implaced are for long term, so the only way to help implement them to make them work is for the to start right now. There are so many communities that have to be dealt with so starting now was the best thing to do, thought out by them.

• Many of the 50,000 residents of Ironbound are overburdened by polluting facilities and air pollutants from the second largest seaport in the country, an international airport, and rail lines.

• 25% percent of the children in the community suffer from asthma, which is three times the state average.

• The technical resources developed for the Ironbound community can be used by other communities across the country to develop their own air monitoring programs in areas where pollution is a concern.

"The risk for commuicable disease transmission after disasters is associated primarily with the size and characteristics of the population displaced, specifically the proximity of safe water adn functioning latrines, the nutritional status of the displaced population, the level of immunuty to vaccine-preventable diseases..., and the access to healthcare services"

"...natural disasters (regardless of type) that do not result in population displacement are rarely associated with outbreaks"

"When death is directly due to the natural disaster, human remains do not pose a rise for outbreaks"

Yes they have a way in plan to help address this issue to be resolved over the next couple years. Working with the commission, the students to help create better and improved ways to deal with sewage waste. Already there is a "solids and floatables" control that has been in place, which has significantly helped reduce the space that trash and other objects to not take up space that could be used by the water flow. This has also reduced the amount of trash that was getting dumped into waterways. 

The author contacted both the NRC and the nonprofit Disaster Accountability Project for statements and information on the safety of the plant and if emergency plans were in place. The NRC gave statements and information on their discussions with the Disaster Accountability Project, and the nonprofit described their process of sending freedom-of-information requests to 20 jurisdictions in NY, NJ, and CT located up to 50 miles from Indian Point, in order to determine if they had emergency plans related to the power plant and what they might be

The main point of the article was that EPA researchers input portable air sensors that monitor levels of particulate matter and nitrogen oxide- pollutants that cause short and long-term health effects and are regulated under Clean Air Act. The goal was to get good on-the-ground air quality data for our environmental justice community. Data that is collected, understood, and used by those being directly impacted by the pollution. This was supported by the input of EPA air sensors installed into the communities.