Few of us notice air pollution around here. Ocean breezes sweep it
away. Even the stench of the Columbus County paper plant rarely wafts
across the region anymore.
But
the pollution is here, coming our way from the west, rising from
coal-fired power plants and motor vehicles. We breathe gases and
particles, which are particularly hard on the young, the old and those
with lung problems.
If summers get hotter, which many climate
experts fear they will, we'll breathe even more ozone, a key component
of smog. A new study by researchers at Yale, Columbia and Johns Hopkins
calculates that by mid-century, Wilmington residents might face an
additional four dangerous air days a year.
There's only so much
one state can do to ease a national - no, an international - problem.
But with the federal government doing little of consequence to reduce
pollution and greenhouse gases, some states are trying to do their bit.
A
number say they'll adopt the clean-air requirements that California
places on cars and trucks. The more states that do that, the more
likely automakers will get serious about reducing the pollutants their
products spew.
North Carolina, which faces not only more air
pollution but also the loss of coastal property to rising seas, would
be wise to join those states. If carmakers can do it for California,
they can do it for us.
