Gunny
Gold Member
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The air in hundreds of U.S. counties is simply too dirty to breathe, the government said Wednesday, ordering a multibillion-dollar expansion of efforts to clean up smog in cities and towns nationwide.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced it was tightening the amount of ozone, commonly known as smog, that will be allowed in the air. But the lower standard still falls short of what most health experts say is needed to significantly reduce heart and asthma attacks from breathing smog-clogged air.
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson called the new smog requirements "the most stringent standards ever," and he said they will require 345 counties -- out of more than 700 that are monitored -- to make air quality improvements because they now have dirtier air than is healthy.
Johnson said that state and local officials have considerable time to meet the new requirements -- as much as 20 years for some that have the most serious pollution problems. The EPA estimates that by 2020, the number of counties failing to meet the new health standard will drop to about 28.
About 85 counties fall short of the old standard enacted a decade ago.
Johnson's decision is likely to be met with sharp criticism from health experts and some members of Congress because it goes counter to the recommendations of two of his agency's scientific advisory panels -- one on air quality and the other on protection of children.
The new EPA standard will lower the allowable concentration of ozone in the air to no more than 75 parts per billion, compared with the old standard of 80.
The science boards had told the agency that limits of 60 to 70 parts per billion are needed to protect the nation's most vulnerable citizens, especially children, the elderly and people suffering from asthma and other respiratory illnesses.
Johnson said he took those recommendations into account, but disagreed with the scientists.
"In the end, it is a judgment. I followed my obligation. I followed the law. I adhered to the science," Johnson said in a conference call with reporters.
Johnson said he did not take into account the cost of meeting the new requirements. States and counties would have to require emission reductions from factories, power plants and cars to meet the tougher health rules.
The EPA has estimated that compliance with a 75 parts per billion smog standard would cost as much as $8.8 billion a year by 2020, when many of the counties are expected to be meeting the requirement. That estimate, however, does not take into account balancing reductions in health care costs that could be even greater.
Electric utilities, oil companies and other businesses had lobbied hard for leaving the smog rule alone, saying the high cost of lower limits could hurt the economy.
The federal Clean Air Act requires that health standards for ozone and a handful of other air pollutants not take costs into account.
But Johnson said that ought to change. He said the Bush administration plans to propose legislation to Congress to overhaul the 1970 law so that in the future, costs can be considered when setting health standards.
Any such move is likely to be met with strong opposition in Congress. Health experts and environmentalists view the setting of health standards without consideration of cost as essential for assuring public health.
more ... http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/03/12/dirty.air.ap/index.html
And guess who ends up paying for this crap? It sure isn't the EPA.