American Lung Association Statement on EPA's Ozone Designations and Implementation Rule

4/15/2004

From: Diane Maple of the American Lung Association, 202-785-3355

WASHINGTON, April 15 -- Following is a statement of John L. Kirkwood, president and chief executive officer of the American Lung Association, regarding the EPA's ozone designations and implementation rule:

"With today's announcement of the official designations of ozone nonattainment areas, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency moves an essential step closer to cleaning up ozone air pollution, often called smog. The American Lung Association welcomes today's decision to include the nation's counties with smog-related air quality problems in the official ozone nonattainment designations. The good news is that millions of people will benefit from the cleaner air that will come from the steps triggered by these designations.

"However, the agency also has chosen to bow to political pressure and drop key counties in many areas where air quality is poor, hurting the ability of many areas to provide cleaner air for their residents. Children, the elderly, people with asthma and other chronic lung diseases who live in these counties a face harm to their health from breathing smog. Smog, or ozone, triggers asthma attacks, shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing, and leads to increased trips to the emergency room and hospitalizations for asthma. Sadly, today's action is only the first step. It will be many years before these benefits are fully realized.

"The public has a right to know when the air in their community is unhealthy and the government has an obligation to implement policies to clean the air. Today's decision fails too many communities and the people who live in them. Even more troubling is the final implementation rule that, unfortunately, gives too many communities a way to avoid or delay cleaning up the pollution their citizens must breathe.

"Ozone is a regional problem.

"Ozone is a regional problem, yet in many communities EPA is narrowly defining the "non-attainment" area. Listing all the counties in each metropolitan area in the official ozone designation is critical to cleaning up the nation's air. To really tackle the pollution requires a regional approach. Omitting counties with large sources of pollution hamstrings the region's ability to curb pollution. Areas have been handicapped like that before, and have failed to clean the air. Today's decision will perpetuate that problem.

"In 1997 EPA, following litigation by the American Lung Association, set tougher ozone pollution health standards based on the latest scientific research. Today's action by the agency is the result of a settlement of further American Lung Association litigation that required EPA to begin the necessary steps to implement the new health-based air pollution standards.

"20 years will pass before we see improvements.

"Unfortunately, EPA has today issued a final rule that is too weak to effectively guide communities and states in their planning to clean up the air. In some cases, EPA's rule actually will slow the pace of clean up that existed under the old standard. EPA's rule gives most of the newly designated areas up to a decade before they must adopt clean up measures. For example, the rule manages to reward cities that failed to adequately plan to meet the old standard-steps that were required to be in place in 1994. Today's new rule gives them until 2007 to get their plans in place and until 2016 to clean up the pollution. Bottom line: A child in first grade today will graduate high school before the air pollution is cleaned up in her community. Now is not the time to build in more delay.

"Over the past three decades, experience shows that half- measures and a slower pace fail to do the job. EPA has missed an important opportunity to adopt aggressive measures to give this nation cleaner air sooner. The American Lung Association will work with state and local air pollution agencies to support strong, aggressive clean up plans so that another generation of children will not have to breathe dirty air."