A new federal study finds ground level ozone in the air can cause lung damage and lead to premature death at levels the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe. The new study was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the EPA itself. The GLRC’s Rebecca Williams reports:
Transcript
A new federal study finds ground level ozone in the air can cause lung
damage and lead to premature death at levels the Environmental
Protection Agency considers safe. The new study was funded by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the EPA itself. The
GLRC’s Rebecca Williams reports:
Ozone is the major ingredient of smog. Ground level ozone can make
asthma worse and can even cause permanent lung damage.
A new study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives says the
EPA’s current standards aren’t good enough. The authors say breathing
ozone at levels the EPA considers safe can increase the risk of premature
death. The authors say if there is a safe level of ozone, it’s at very low
concentrations… far below current EPA standards.
But there’s a problem. Cities already have trouble meeting the current
EPA standards. The EPA says more than 100 million Americans live in
areas that exceed what the EPA considers safe.
The EPA is reviewing the scientific evidence on ozone to decide whether
to revise its standards further.
The EPA's public service announcement features a child who describes feeling like a fish with no water when he has an asthma attack. (Photo courtesy of the EPA)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is airing a public service campaign on television to get parents to do a better job of limiting their children’s exposure to asthma triggers. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham
reports:
Transcript
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is airing a public service campaign on television to
get parents to do a better job of limiting their children’s exposure to asthma triggers. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
The TV campaign is directed at people who have asthma, but who are not taking even the most
simple steps to avoid asthma triggers such as secondhand smoke, dust mites, and ground level
ozone. One of the ads depicts a tiny goldfish out of the water… flopping…
CHILD: “When I have an asthma attack, I feel scared. Sometimes my parents have to take me to
the hospital. I feel like a fish with no water. ANNOUNCER: You know how to react to their
asthma attacks. Here’s how to prevent them.”
The EPA is offering educational materials in how to avoid the triggers. But parents can’t avoid
all the asthma triggers. An EPA spokesperson conceded there are other factors… such as air
pollution from diesel vehicles and coal-burning power plants. The EPA says it’s making progress
on those problems.
The EPA is getting ready for smog season. (photo courtesy of USEPA)
On ozone action days people with respiratory
problems are asked to stay indoors. (photo courtesy of
GATech)
Problem areas (with
ground-level ozone exceeding the new EPA standards) in the U.S. (photo courtesy of USEPA)
The federal government’s tougher regulations on pollution might have consequences on prices at the gasoline pump. To meet the Clean Air Act, some areas might be required to use cleaner-burning fuels. That could make it tougher to get gasoline supplies where they need to be. And that could mean higher prices. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
The federal government’s tougher regulations on pollution might have consequences on prices at
the gasoline pump. To meet the Clean Air Act some areas might be required to use cleaner-
burning fuels. That could make it tougher to get gasoline supplies where they need to be. And
that could mean higher prices. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
The Environmental Protection Agency says 31 states are not complying with the Clean Air Act.
The EPA indicates tougher standards for ground-level ozone make many areas that didn’t know
they had a problem in violation of air pollution laws.
John Mooney is an environmental specialist with the EPA. He says the government used to
check for ozone pollution for short periods… but started monitoring for longer periods and found
more instances of high levels of ozone.
“The other issue is that we’re changing the number of the standard from 120 down to 80 parts-
per-billion. So, it’s a lower level that we’re looking at. And we think that’s more reflective of
the health effects that are being caused by this pollutant.”
Ground-level ozone aggravates asthma. People with lung diseases can find it hard to breathe.
And those who work outdoors are affected by the unhealthy air.
Ozone is created when factories and cars emit volatile organic compounds. That chemical stew is
affected by sunlight and ozone can form. Cities that have had high ozone levels have worked to
reduce emissions from businesses, encouraged car-pooling, made announcements asking people
not to use gas-powered mowers on high ozone days.
And… for some cities… part of the solution has been reformulated gasoline. It’s gas that’s
cleaner burning. Different formulations are used in different areas. And… gas formulas change
from winter to summer. Refineries and gasoline suppliers have to empty their tanks and pipelines
before switching. That makes gas supplies tight for a while and that drives the price up. We
asked the EPA’s John Mooney about that.
LG: We’ve got several cities with reformulated gasoline right now and that’s put a strain on the
distribution system nation-wide. If more cities have to start using reformulated gasoline and each
city has to have a different formulation, that’s going to further strain the distribution problem at a
time when gasoline prices are at an all time high.
JM: “We’re extremely sensitive to the infrastructure issue and the energy issue and are trying to
promote clean-burning fuels that have environmental impacts without significant economic
disruptions. Having fuel shortages and price spikes and things of that nature don’t contribute to
the success of our mission to improve public health. And so, we’re going to be tied into the fuel
distribution issues and we’re going to be working with the oil refiners to make sure that the fuels
programs that are ultimately decided upon operate without significant disruptions.”
Significant disruptions that could cause gasoline shortages and high prices.
Bob Slaughter is the President of NPRA, the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association. He
says the government needs to work closely with gasoline suppliers to make sure that efforts to
make the air easier to breathe don’t make problems for the economy of an area.
“You know, you have to be very careful that you don’t have so many fuels in certain areas that it
becomes difficult to re-supply if there are problems, say, with a refinery or a pipeline in a
particular area.”
For instance, in recent years a fire at a refinery at a bad time meant shortages and higher prices.
But… even with lots of cooperation between government and the gasoline suppliers, the added
burden of different types of reformulated gasoline to the fuel distribution system might mean
spikes in gas prices.
(road sound, gas station)
We asked some people buying gas if they were willing to pay more if it meant cleaner air…
VOXPOP (voice 1) “Well, the gas prices are high enough. Uh, am I willing? I suppose so if it’s
better for the environment.” (voice 2) “Well, I think the federal government regulates everything
way too much right now. I think they do have a lot of safeguards in place right now to lower the
emissions in a lot of vehicles. Why do we have to make further regulation to control that?”
(voice 3) “I mean, I hate to – I hate to pay more gas prices. I really do. But, I guess for cleaner
air, it might be worth it.” (voice 4) “I haven’t thought about it too much. I pay what they make
me pay. I don’t care.”
The EPA is giving states and cities three years to get their ground-level ozone pollution problems
below the government’s new standards.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
A recently published study indicates that trees in cities are growing better than trees in rural areas downwind of the cities. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham has more:
Transcript
A recently published study indicates that trees in cities are growing better than trees in
rural areas downwind of the cities. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham
has more:
This study, published in the journal Nature, found that trees grown in many
different conditions grow twice as fast in the city than trees in the country. Jillian Gregg
at Cornell University is the lead author of the study. She says lots of factors affected the
trees…
“But, in the end, the most important factor was ground level ozone which was higher in
rural environments.”
Ground level ozone develops when pollution in the city stews in the sun for a while. As
the chemicals drift out of the city, ozone develops downwind in the rural areas where the
impact on the trees is greater.
“So, in the rural environments, the ozone stays around for longer so you have a longer
exposure period.”
During three growing seasons at eight sites in eleven different types of soils, the results
were the same. The city trees did much better than the trees in the country exposed to
ground level ozone longer.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
Great Lakes states are slowly complying with new EPA rules designed to reduce smog. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl explains:
Transcript
Great Lakes states are slowly complying with new EPA rules designed to reduce smog. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports:
The US EPA is requiring states to reduce emissions of Nitrogen Oxides, a main component in smog and ground level ozone. Coal-fired power plants and industrial boilers are the main producers of the pollutants. John Summerhays is an environmental scientist with the EPA’s Midwest Office. He says the reduction is an attempt to improve public health:
“The smog and ozone can cause a variety of health effects that are principally hard on the lungs. It can contribute to various lung diseases, so this is a big step forward for public health protection.”
Illinois and Indiana recently had their emission reduction plans approved by the Federal Government. Pennsylvania and New York have also been approved. Ohio and Michigan still have yet to submit reduction plans. The deadline for implementing the measures is 2004. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jonathan Ahl.
States around Lake Michigan are working with Missouri to reduce emissions from coal-burning power plants such as this one near St. Louis.
Read more about this story in the upcoming April edition of the magazine Illinois Issues.
States surrounding Lake Michigan are working together to reduce
air pollution. Instead of filing lawsuits against each other, the
states
agreed how to fix the problem. The federal government is keeping an
eye
on the agreement. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham
reports:
States around Lake Michigan are working with Missouri to reduce emissions from coal-burning power plants such as this one near St. Louis.
Read more about this story in the upcoming April edition of the magazine Illinois Issues.
States surrounding Lake Michigan are working together to reduce
air pollution. Instead of filing lawsuits against each other, the
states
agreed how to fix the problem. The federal government is keeping an
eye
on the agreement. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham
reports:
The automobile is a primary source of ground level ozone. As
Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Suzanne Elston has
discovered, a U-S company has developed a new product that may one
day have us breathing easier:
