(In yet another battle between Bush administration appointees and the scientific community, the EPA adopted a weaker standard for air quality than was called for by heath experts and science boards. Below are some excerpts of an AP story published last Thursday in the South Bend Tribune. - KJH)
By H. Josef Hebert
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The air in hundreds of U.S. counties, including five area
ones, 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.
Some 14 Indiana counties are in violation of the new standard. They are:
St. Joseph, Elkhart, LaPorte, Allen, Boone, Clark, Greene, Hamilton,
Johnson, Lake, Marion, Perry, Porter and Warrick.
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'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.
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