Lehigh, Northampton Counties Should Ask Lehigh Valley Breathes for Results; Is This Real Science or a $106,000 Science Project?

Aug. 13, 2026

— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs

Back in July 2022, Northampton County voted to give $52,980 to “Lehigh Valley Breathes,” which promised to measure air quality.

The small organization said data was needed to assess small particles, known as particulates, in the air. LVB cited the hot-button issues of warehouses and truck traffic, and the pollution they bring.

Lehigh County matched that sum for a total just short of $106,000 for LVB.

What has happened since? Did this work improve anybody’s life? Will it? Northampton County approved the expenditure more than four years ago.

At that time, then-Northampton County Commissioner John Goffredo asked, “What is the end game?” That’s still a good question.

I’ve received three missives from the group since my first post about this on Monday. They don’t care for me, I take it. It happens.

LVB held a somewhat peculiar press conference at the site of Musikfest in 2023, with comments from Dr. Breena Holland of Lehigh University’s political science department, and Andrea Wittchen, who operates a small outfit called iSpring.

Since then, the group has been quiet and the last update on their website is from December, even though back in 2022, Holland said “We’re running out of time.”

LVB says now that the counties have not worked with them to move the project forward and that their agreement with the two governments bars them from saying much more.

So let’s fix that. Northampton County Council and the Lehigh County Commissioners should ask LVB to attend a meeting and tell them what’s going on.

Give Lehigh Valley Breathes a chance to make their case and answer questions.

And if they ask for more money, say no.

The two councils tossed taxpayers’ money to this crew. They should be keeping tabs on it.

I was at the Northampton County meeting when the $52,980 payment was approved. Questions were raised then about whether the data was redundant and how it would be used. Four years later, the questions remain.

For video of that meeting, see this link. The action picks up around the 44-minute mark.

I’ll go back to what Goffredo said in July 2022:

“Assuming we do this study and we find out that we have air pollution, which I am sure we will find out that we have … what are we going to do about it?”

“Are we going to tell people to drive less, to work less?” he asked. The state and federal governments already spend money to monitor pollution, he said.

The LVB team said they’d pick up more information by placing monitors near highways where trucks travel, and that the county would help municipalities develop ordinances to control how much pollution is going into the air. (Note: the county is not responsible for planning and zoning).

Well, it’s been more than four years and nothing has come of this. No pollution has been prevented.

Goffredo said the state and federal governments already spend money on monitoring pollution.

Again, as he said then: “What is the end game?”

After more than four years, we still don’t know, but $106,000 is gone.

It’s time for government to ask what the public got for its money.