Additional Contact:
Brian
Urbaszewski, Respiratory Health Assn. of Metropolitan Chicago
work: 312-628-0245,
cell: 312-405-1175
Local
Citizens and Advocates Call on EPA to Heed Science, Protect Public Health
Chicago, Illinois—At
a public hearing in Chicago
today, residents and public health advocates called on the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to strengthen its proposed air quality standards for
ozone (smog pollution).
“Ozone can harm even the healthiest lungs,” said Rebecca Stanfield,
State Director with Environment Illinois.
“EPA needs to significantly strengthen the national air quality
standards for ozone so we can all breathe easier,” continued Stanfield.
Stanfield was one of several witnesses who
testified at the EPA hearing,
where public health advocates described the health effects of ozone
exposure,
particularly on children, and highlighted the scientific consensus on
the need
to substantially strengthen the health-based air quality standards for
ozone. EPA scheduled additional hearings in Los Angeles and
Philadelphia
on August 30th and in Atlanta, and Houston on September 5th.
Ozone is a powerful
pollutant that can burn our lungs and airways, causing health effects ranging
from coughing and wheezing to asthma attacks and even premature death. Children, teenagers, senior citizens, and
people with lung disease are particularly vulnerable to the health effects of
ozone.
“The more we learn about ozone exposure, the more we understand how
dangerous it is,” said Joel Africk, Executive Director with Respiratory Health
Association of Metropolitan Chicago. “That’s
why EPA’s scientific advisors found no scientific justification for retaining
the current ozone standard and recommended strengthening it to protect public
health,” continued Africk.
Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA must set air quality standards at
levels that protect public health, including sensitive populations, with an
adequate margin of safety. In 1997, EPA set the national air quality
standard for ozone at 0.08 parts per million (ppm) averaged over an eight hour
period. A decade of scientific studies
has found health impacts of breathing ozone at levels lower than the current
air quality standard.
In 2006, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, a group of expert
outside scientists who advise the EPA Administrator on air quality standards,
unanimously recommended strengthening the ozone standard to within the range of
0.060 to 0.070 ppm.
Environment Illinois,
Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago, American Academy
of Pediatrics, American Thoracic Society, American Public Health Association,
Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, and many other public health and
environmental experts have recommended a standard of 0.060 ppm.
On June 20, however, EPA proposed strengthening the national air quality
standard for ozone to within a range of
0.070 to 0.075 ppm, weaker than what the agency’s scientific advisors say is necessary to
protect public health.
“While EPA’s proposal
is stronger than the current ozone standard, it fails to protect all Americans
from the harmful effects of air pollution,” stated Stanfield.
Big Oil, electric utilities, and other powerful interests that would be
affected by stronger ozone standards are lobbying hard to convince EPA to keep
the ozone standards as weak as possible or not change them at all.
“The science is clear, and the law is clear,” stated Africk. “EPA should reject industry pressure to maintain the
status quo and instead adopt the most protective ozone standard recommended by
its scientific advisors.”
EPA is accepting public comments on its proposal through October 9 and
must issue a final ozone standard by March 2008.
