The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved rules to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions in the Midwest. Environmentalists say in some states the rules aren’t strong enough. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Natalie Walston reports:
Transcript
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved rules to
reduce nitrogen oxide emissions in the Midwest. Environmentalists say in
some states the rules aren’t strong enough. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Natalie Walston reports:
Ohio is one of the last of the states in the Midwest to submit rules that
would curb nitrogen oxide emissions. The state’s plan would cut harmful NOx
emissions from power plants and other coal-burning boilers by 120-thousand tons
annually starting in 2004. NOx is blamed for causing smog on hot days.
Environmentalists say the new rules are a positive step… but Ohio should be
one of the first states to cut back emissions year-round, not just during summer
months, as the Ohio plan proposes.
Michael Shore is with the New York-based group Environmental Defense.
“The federal government is really failing to protect our air quality.
So the responsibility is really falling to our states at this point.”
Shore says if Ohio takes action to control NOx emissions year-round,
a domino effect will be created, encouraging other states to follow its example.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Natalie Walston.