Mike B wrote:

Was flipping channels and caught heard that "particle" polution has lessened
by 10% in the last four years. Don't remember which network, but I'm sure it
was not one of the major 3


There's this from the Associated Press (AP):



December 18, 2004
EPA Says 225 Counties Fail Air Standards
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 11:13 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday
identified 225 counties in 20 states that don't meet new clean air
standards designed to protect against one of the tiniest but most
harmful pollutants -- microscopic soot.

The counties and the District of Columbia will have to move quickly to
come into compliance. They have three years to devise a
pollution-reduction plan for fine particles and then must meet federal
standards by 2010.

Failure to comply could mean a county will have to limit development
and its state could lose federal highway dollars.

EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt announced the list, which included 18
fewer counties than the agency identified in a preliminary report in
June. He emphasized the agency was for the first time specifically
regulating for fine particles, or soot, that are 2.5 micrometers in
diameter -- 1/30th the width of a human hair. Such pollution comes
from power plants, car exhaust, diesel-burning trucks, wood-burning
stoves and other sources.

EPA considers it potentially the most significant air quality health
standard, because soot can penetrate deeply into the lungs.

``This is not a story about the air getting dirtier,'' Leavitt told a
news conference. ``It is a story about higher, more stringent
standards and healthier air.''

About 95 million people live in the 225 counties and the nation's
capital. EPA estimates the new standard, once met, will prevent at
least 15,000 premature deaths, 95,000 cases of bronchitis and 10,000
hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

All but three of the states -- Missouri, California and Montana -- are
east of the Mississippi River. The counties and states at issue might
modify transportation plans, require new pollution controls when
factories expand or impose stricter vehicle emission and inspection
programs.

``We're going to implement over the course of the next few months new
national tools,'' Leavitt said. ``In essence we're going to do the
same thing for smokestacks that we have done for tailpipes.''

In some cases, the EPA could grant five-year extensions, letting
jurisdictions take up to 2015 to comply with the new rule.

Environmentalists say states will find it tough to impossible to meet
the standard without accompanying action to reduce soot pollution from
power plants. President Bush decided last week to delay at least until
March putting in place a companion regulation he promised on the
campaign trail that would address pollution drifting among states.

``This is also a story about EPA failing to finalize rules to clean up
power plant pollution,'' said Michael Shore, an air policy specialist
at Environmental Defense, an advocacy group. ``The Bush administration
frankly deserves a lump of coal for its failure to protect the health
of our children from power plant pollution.''

The largest concentrations of counties in noncompliance with the new
soot standard are in the Los Angeles basin and interior central
California; the urban corridor from New York City to Washington; the
Ohio River Valley; Atlanta; St. Louis; Chicago, and Detroit. The only
other Western area was a small corner of northwestern Montana.

In May, governors gave EPA a list of 141 counties they viewed as
failing to meet the soot requirements. EPA broadened that to include
many other counties, not because their air is too dirty but because
their pollution contributes to nearby areas that are out of compliance.

Counties were placed on the list or removed due to factors such as
emission rates, recent air quality, population density, traffic and
commuting patterns, expected growth, weather and geography, legal
boundaries and the level of pollution controls.

The regulations have been a long time coming. The Clinton
administration devised them in 1997, but they were held up because of
court challenges by industry that went all the way to the Supreme
Court, which upheld the standard. They are also meant to update and
complement the 1987 standard for reducing soot particles 10
micrometers in diameter, or 1/7th the width of human hair. Those had
mostly targeted dusty air from things such as mining tailings, factory
debris, unpaved roads and windblown dust.

The states with counties in violation are Alabama, California,
Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland,
Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

------

On the Net:

EPA: http://www.epa.gov/pmdesignations

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press





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Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me

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