Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Pho
to Credit: Soloviova Liudmyla/Shutterstock
The Environmental Protection Agencyannounced last week that the countrys anti-smog
standard does not sufficiently protect Americans lungs and will be tightened, a move
that irked groups on both sides of the debate.
The decision comes after years of wrangling over the national limit for ozone, the lung-
said since 2006 that the standard is too lenient. But when the EPA last lowered the limit,
in 2008, officials did not set it within the 60-to-70 parts per billion range its panel
recommended. President Barack Obama told the EPA to hold off in 2011, when the
agency was on the verge of trying again.
This time, the EPA faced a court-ordered deadline to make a decision. The American
Lung Association and three environmental groups sued in 2013 when the agency had yet
to take up the matter as required.
The EPA isnt permitted to consider cost when it sets the ozone standard, only the effect
on public health. Figuring out the most cost-effective way to control smog is supposed to
come after the threshold is set.
But you wouldnt know that by listening to the ozone debates.
Opponents of anti-smog efforts have long argued that stricter rules would wreck the
economy, as described in a Center for Public Integrity investigationinto the 44-year
history of ozone regulation.
When an area is out of compliance with the standard, state officials mustcome up with a
plan to control thepollutants that form ground-level ozone, which is subject to EPA
approval. Industry groups fear these ozone-reducing efforts will make daily business
more expensive and expansions difficult or impossible.
An economic consulting group hired by the National Association of
Manufacturers said in February that the rule would cost the U.S. economy $140 billion a
year, with higher compliance costs rippling outward in lost jobs, higher electricity rates
and other problems.
Clean-air advocates and the EPA said the dire predictions of economic disaster have
never come true, and they doubt this time would be an exception. In September, an
economic consulting group hired by Earthjusticecontended that the manufacturers
ozone-rule analysis grossly inflated the cost in part due to what it called a $70 billion
math error while ignoring the economic value of better health.
The cost of failing to control ozone is measured in medical bills, lost work days and
shortened lives, according to the EPA. Health groups urging the standard be tightened,
including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association,
pointed to studies that find respiratory problems such as asthma attacks at ozone levels
below the 75 parts-per-billion threshold set in 2008. Evidence is also mounting that
ozone has problematic effects on the heart, they say.
Ozone-causing pollutants come from a variety of sources, including factories, vehicles,
power plants and refineries. But not all are man-made or locally produced. Thats a
particular issue for areas in the West dealing with ozone-worsening wildfires and
pollution wafting in from Asia.
A new NASA-led study found that only a quarter of the ozone in California and Nevada in
the summer of 2008, a period rife with wildfires, was both local and man-made.
Industry groups have pointed to such background ozone when arguing against
tightening the standard. Health advocates note that states can ask for an exemption if
they are able to demonstrate that their air-quality violations were triggered by causes
such as wildfires; the EPA has said it will coordinate with states to work through these
issues.
Efforts to influence the EPAs decision on the ozone standard ramped up to a fever pitch
in recent weeks.
At least 21 groups, some for and some against a stricter standard, met with the White
Houses Office of Management and Budget in September to try to sway officials at that
agency, which has the power to change proposed rules.
Both the lung and manufacturers associations released poll results to suggest that
Americans are on their side. The two groups also launched dueling ad campaigns, though
not exactly on the same playing field: The lung associations static ads appeared on
websites in the Washington area for a cost the group characterized as low six figures,
while the manufacturers multimillion-dollar effort put ads on television in Washington,
D.C., and eight states.
When an area is out of compliance with the standard, state officials mustcome up with a
plan to control thepollutants that form ground-level ozone, which is subject to EPA
approval. Industry groups fear these ozone-reducing efforts will make daily business
more expensive and expansions difficult or impossible.
An economic consulting group hired by the National Association of
Manufacturers said in February that the rule would cost the U.S. economy $140 billion a
year, with higher compliance costs rippling outward in lost jobs, higher electricity rates
and other problems.
Clean-air advocates and the EPA said the dire predictions of economic disaster have
never come true, and they doubt this time would be an exception. In September, an
economic consulting group hired by Earthjusticecontended that the manufacturers
ozone-rule analysis grossly inflated the cost in part due to what it called a $70 billion
math error while ignoring the economic value of better health.
The cost of failing to control ozone is measured in medical bills, lost work days and
shortened lives, according to the EPA. Health groups urging the standard be tightened,
including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association,
pointed to studies that find respiratory problems such as asthma attacks at ozone levels
below the 75 parts-per-billion threshold set in 2008. Evidence is also mounting that
ozone has problematic effects on the heart, they say.
Ozone-causing pollutants come from a variety of sources, including factories, vehicles,
power plants and refineries. But not all are man-made or locally produced. Thats a
particular issue for areas in the West dealing with ozone-worsening wildfires and
pollution wafting in from Asia.
A new NASA-led study found that only a quarter of the ozone in California and Nevada in
the summer of 2008, a period rife with wildfires, was both local and man-made.
Industry groups have pointed to such background ozone when arguing against
tightening the standard. Health advocates note that states can ask for an exemption if
they are able to demonstrate that their air-quality violations were triggered by causes
such as wildfires; the EPA has said it will coordinate with states to work through these
issues.
Efforts to influence the EPAs decision on the ozone standard ramped up to a fever pitch
in recent weeks.
At least 21 groups, some for and some against a stricter standard, met with the White
Houses Office of Management and Budget in September to try to sway officials at that
agency, which has the power to change proposed rules.
Both the lung and manufacturers associations released poll results to suggest that
Americans are on their side. The two groups also launched dueling ad campaigns, though
not exactly on the same playing field: The lung associations static ads appeared on
websites in the Washington area for a cost the group characterized as low six figures,
while the manufacturers multimillion-dollar effort put ads on television in Washington,
Object 1
Posted by Thavam