That stuff you're breathing could be killing you.
Most
Angelenos refer to the brown haze blanketing the city as smog, but more
technically it's a noxious mix of particulate matter and gases, the
prime ingredient being ozone. Most of our ozone comes from cars, trucks
and other vehicles, but it's also produced by smokestacks, wet paint
and other sources. It makes asthma worse and might even cause it; ozone
also irritates the lungs and can kill those with respiratory problems,
especially children and the elderly.
The federal government
strengthened its ozone standard in 1997, but a decade of research has
shown that the rules still aren't strict enough. So the Environmental
Protection Agency has proposed tightening them, and will hold a daylong
public hearing on the issue today in Los Angeles.
EPA
rules allow a concentration of 84 parts per billion of ozone in the
air. The agency has recommended changing it to 70 to 75 parts per
billion. That's a disappointment, given that the EPA's own Clean Air
Scientific Advisory Committee, after reviewing the available research
on ozone, unanimously ruled that the existing standard doesn't protect
public health and urged lowering it to between 60 and 70 parts per
billion. And bowing to complaints from industry, the EPA also has given
itself a way to avoid doing anything at all: Among the options to be
discussed today will be leaving the standard as it is.
California
is home to eight of the 10 counties with the highest concentration of
ozone in the United States, according to the American Lung Assn. (L.A.
is No. 4 on the list, with San Bernardino County having the dubious
honor of being No. 1.) The state already has an ozone standard of 70
parts per billion, but the rule has no regulatory teeth. The EPA can
order counties to submit plans for how they'll reach compliance and cut
off federal funds if they fail to do so.
The EPA under the Bush
administration has long been trying to shrug off its obligation to
regulate ozone, and the proposed standard was developed only after the
agency was successfully sued by the American Lung Assn. If it fails to
crack down, it clearly will be violating its legal responsibility to
protect public health.
