Clean Air News

As the new home of RIPIRG's environmental work, Environment Rhode Island can be contacted regarding this news release.

PROVIDENCE—New data shows that 2002 was the smoggiest in recent years, according to a new Clear the Air report released September 18, 2003 by RIPIRG and Clean Water Action. "Danger in the Air: Unhealthy Levels of Smog in 2002" found that smog monitors in 41 states and the District of Columbia recorded unhealthy levels of air pollution on nearly 9,000 occasions in 2002, nearly double the number of violations of the national health standard for smog in 2001. The report highlights the affects of air pollution on public health. The report’s release comes just weeks after the EPA finalized a sweeping rollback of the Clean Air Act and in the middle of a push by President Bush to further weaken air pollution laws by passing the so-called "Clear Skies Initiative."

"Smog triggers asthma attacks, sends hundreds of thousands of Americans to emergency rooms each summer, and keeps kids from playing outdoors on hot days," said Matthew Auten of RIPIRG. "The Bush administration’s rollbacks and the dirty "Clear Skies Initiative" are not solutions, they are a recipe for cooking up more air pollution," he continued.

Ground-level ozone or "smog" is formed when pollution from power plants, cars, trucks, and other sources bakes in the heat and sun. Even relatively low levels of ozone can affect healthy people’s ability to breathe, but children, senior citizens, and people with respiratory diseases are particularly vulnerable to the health effects of ozone, which include asthma attacks, hospital visits for respiratory problems, and irreversible lung damage.

"Air pollution is creating a public health crisis in Rhode Island," said Art Handy of ALARI. Last year air pollution caused nearly 400 preventable asthma attacks and 20 deaths in Rhode Island. The new rollbacks will mean more asthma attacks, more emergency room visits and more days when it is unhealthy to be outside," he continued.

"We may have gotten lucky this summer because of the break from the summer heat," said Sheila Dormody of Clean Water Action, "but smog levels are still unacceptably high and will rise again unless we clean up old, dirty power plants and other pollution sources," she continued.

"Danger in the Air: Unhealthy Levels of Smog in 2002" is the fourth annual compilation of data from the nation’s network of more than 1,000 ozone monitors. Key findings include the following:

• 2002 was the worst smog season for which we have data.

• Forty-one states and the District of Columbia exceeded the national health standard for ozone 8,818 times during the 2002 ozone season, including 29 times in Rhode Island.

• Rhode Island ranks 25th in the nation for the most "smog days"—days on which at least one ozone monitor in the state exceeds the national health standard.

The report also includes a limited amount of preliminary data for 2003, which has been a relatively mild and wet summer. Key findings for 21 states and the District of Columbia include the following:

• Twenty of these 21 states and the District of Columbia exceeded the national health standard for ozone 1,228 times through mid-August 2003 compared with a total of 3,961 times in those states during the entire 2002 ozone season, making for a less smoggy season overall.

• According to the RIDEM website Rhode Island has had an estimated 10 "smog days" so far in 2003.

"Reducing the amount of pollution in the air will make hot days less dangerous for Rhode Islanders" said Dormody. " We have the technology to cut pollution to a tiny fraction of current levels, but unfortunately the Bush administration has decided to reward big polluters instead of protecting public health," she concluded.

The Bush administration has spent much of this week pushing the Presidents air pollution plan, the so-called "Clear Skies Initiative." This plan would put national caps on certain air pollutants and allow dirty power plants to buy, sell and trade "pollution credits" from cleaner burning plants. The plan delays the full implementation of clean air standards by six years, from 2012 to 2018, and allows for more overall pollution than emissions standard set by the Clean Air Act. The air pollution plan would allow 40 percent more smog forming nitrogen oxide, 50 percent more sulfur dioxide and 300 percent more mercury into the air than the Clean Air Act.

The report recommends that federal policy makers:

• Adopt a comprehensive new program to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, and mercury from power plants.

• Abandon efforts designed to weaken the application of New Source Review, a critical clean air enforcement program that requires industrial facilities to install modern pollution controls when they make other major modifications that increase emissions.

• Ensure timely designation of 8-hour ozone non-attainment areas.

• Oppose efforts to delay or weaken Clean Air Act requirements that apply to ozone non-attainment areas.

• Adopt fuel and emission standards for "non-road" diesel construction, farming, and industrial equipment, as well as trains and ships, to reduce emissions from these vehicles and engines by at least 90 percent.

RIPIRG also recommends that Rhode Island policy makers take steps to reduce pollution in state such as:

• Continue with lawsuits against power plants and the EPA for failure to comply with the Clean Air Act.

• Implement programs in Rhode Island that will decrease air pollution created in Rhode Island such as the California Low Emission Vehicle standard.

• Invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

"The rollbacks will hamper clean air efforts for years to come, but we can still reduce air pollution at the state level," Auten insisted. "Governor Carcieri and the legislature can take positive steps by putting cleaner cars on the roads, getting more power from clean renewable sources and by reducing energy consumption through efficiency programs," he concluded.

RIPIRG is the Rhode Island Public Interest Research Group.