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Executive Summary
As the new home of NCPIRG's environmental work,
Environment North Carolina can be contacted with any questions regarding this report.
Ground-level ozone or smog
is a dangerous respiratory irritant that affects the health of millions of Americans
each year. More than half of all Americans reside in places where smog levels
are high enough to cause asthma attacks, hospital visits, decreased lung function,
coughing, wheezing, and eye and throat irritation. Recent studies have even
linked smog with mortality from strokes and with the onset of asthma in children
and adults. Despite the progress made as a result of the 1970 landmark public
health law – the Clean Air Act – our cities, suburbs and even our national parks
are shrouded in smog for much of the summer.
Danger in the Air
is the third annual compilation of data from a network of more than a thousand
ozone monitors across the nation. Our findings demonstrate a need for aggressive
action to reduce emissions of the pollutants that cause smog formation. Specifically,
we found that:
Preliminary 2002 Data:
Due to the timing of this year’s report, we were able to include a limited amount
of data for the current ozone season as well. We gathered preliminary ozone
data from 20 states and the District of Columbia and found that:
• Even with the smog season
still in full swing, the number of ozone exceedances recorded in these 21
states combined is nearly double the number in those states for all of 2000
and 23% more than recorded in these states in all of 2001.
• As of August 3, the state
of North Carolina had already recorded 405 8-hour ozone exceedances, compared
to 182 throughout the entire 2001 ozone season.
• As of August 11, the
state of Illinois had already experienced 175 ozone exceedances, again more
than quadruple the number recorded in either 2000 or 2001.
• As of August 12, the
state of South Carolina had already experienced 163 exceedances, triple the
number from all of 2001.
• Other states that have
already seen more ozone exceedances in 2002 than in the entire ozone seasons
of 2000 and 2001 include: Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, New
Jersey, New York, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Ironically, this report
comes as the White House is preparing to execute the most radical weakening
of our clean air protections in the 30-year history of the Clean Air Act. After
a massive lobbying effort by the coal, oil, and manufacturing industries, the
Bush administration is finalizing a plan to weaken the rules known as New Source
Review, effectively reducing the number of facilities required to install modern
emissions control technology. Although the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
argues that it cannot calculate the effect of this policy change, gutting the
New Source Review program would allow power plants, refineries and other facilities
to emit millions of tons of additional smog-forming pollutants into our already
smoggy skies.
Rather than weakening the
Clean Air Act, policy makers and regulators should strive to clear the smog
out of our skies by taking real steps to reduce smog-forming nitrogen oxide
(NOx) pollution from its largest sources, motor vehicles and electric power
plants. The U.S. EPA, state environmental agencies and other policy makers should:
• Aggressively enforce
the New Source Review program of the Clean Air Act and oppose any regulatory
weakening of this program.
• Make timely designations
of areas that are out of attainment with the national health standard for
ozone.
• Adopt a comprehensive
new program to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon
dioxide and mercury from power plants, such as the one proposed by the authors
of the Clean Power Act, which was passed this year by the Senate Environment
and Public Works Committee.
• Adopt federal emission
standards for non-road diesel engines used in construction and farm equipment,
as well as new standards for the diesel fuel that is used in these engines.
• Adopt mandates and incentive
programs to stimulate the market for advanced technology vehicles such as
electric, fuel cell and hybrid cars.
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