Arizona environmental agency say new US standard on ozone will be ‘major

Exposure to high levels of ozone pollution can trigger respiratory problems, particularly in children, the elderly and people with lung conditions.

Rob Altenburg of the environmental group PennFuture said he wasn’t surprised the EPA set its standard at the least stringent value.

The ozone standard could effect power plants, like Homer City in Indiana, Pa.

Sunday said the current standard of 75 ppb was working to lower air pollution in Pennsylvania. But the EPA is confident that the science backs up the limit, set under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. “Once met, the standard will prevent childhood asthma attacks, missed days of work and school, and premature deaths”.

The EPA is expected to give California until 2037 – 12 years longer than the rest of the nation – to meet the new standards.

In a lengthy statement to reporters, McCarthy said the best available clinical data show that 72 parts per billion “is the lowest ozone exposure that causes adverse health effects in healthy, exercising adults”.

The EPA had said it was considering a range of 65 to 70 ppb.

Ground-level ozone is created when heat and light mix with nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds. Regina Strong, director of the Michigan Beyond Coal campaign of the Sierra Club, called the EPA’s smog standard “weak” and said it’s “disheartening” the rule doesn’t go further to curb pollution.

“Our job is to set science-backed standards that protect the health of the American people”, she added, calling the new rule “one of the most important measures we can take for improving public health, reducing the costs of illness and protecting our children’s health”. In addition, EPA’s projections reflect the emissions reductions necessary to attain the current ozone standards (75 ppb).

The EPA, which was under a court order to issue the final standard, said the rule will reap between $2.9 billion and $5.9 billion in health benefits annually in 2025, outweighing estimated annual compliance costs of $1.4 billion.

For New Jersey, a state that has never achieved the health-quality standard for ozone, the adoption of the rule likely will likely lead to new efforts to clamp down on tailpipe emissions that contribute to the formation of smog. EPA’s scientific advisory committee recommended a new level somewhere between 60 and 70 ppb.

“We know that this regulation could have been worse, but it still feels like a punch in the gut”, said Tom Riordan, chief executive of iron-casting company Neenah Enterprises and an NAM member.

The EPA’s stricter limits on ground-level ozone also set a new standard that communities around the country will have to try and meet.

“Smog threatens public health, but it also stunts forest growth, damages crops, obscures visibility in our national parks, and makes a unsafe contribution to climate change”.

The Rev. George Heartwell, the mayor of Grand Rapids, joined McCarthy for her announcement and said Americans have a “moral imperative” to be good stewards who ensure nature and its resources are “protected for generations”.

The EPA said the move will help reduce smog that can irritate lungs and worsen bronchitis, emphysema and asthma in addition to other health impacts.

“These new standards yank the rug out from under many communities who are still scrambling to implement the 2008 standards”, he said in a joint statement with Republican Ed Whitfield, a congressman from Kentucky.

The US government imposed tougher standards on smog-producing ozone in a far-reaching clampdown that will affect everything from factories to power plants, and which industry groups said will cost jobs.