More than half the US' population lives in or around areas that violate clean air standards, according to a list to be released tomorrow by the federal government.
The list is a result of new federal standards -- the first in more than two decades -- that will sweep beyond traditional smog-filled metropolises like Houston, Los Angeles and New York to encompass smaller cities such as Little Rock, Arkansas, and Birmingham, Alabama, where the air appears relatively clear. In San Antonio, which has already begun measures to combat air pollution, the local government broadcasts warnings telling children not to play outside even on days when the skies are azure blue.
Rural communities will be affected along with at least seven national parks, including the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee, Acadia in Maine and Yosemite in California.
Tomorrow, the Environmental Protection Agency will release a list of about 500 counties that violate or contribute to violations of ground-level ozone, more than double the number listed under older standards. Ground-level ozone, which is odorless and invisible, is a major component of smog on hot summer days. Prolonged exposure causes the equivalent of sunburn to the lungs.
The federal standards will have wide economic and environmental effects and the makeup of the list has been the subject of lobbying in Washington. Areas in violation face the loss of federal money for roads. Industrial development could be barred unless companies prove that they will not make pollution worse.
Since passage of the 1970 Clean Air Act, the country's air is significantly cleaner, but scientific research continues to ratchet down the amount of pollution that is considered healthy to breathe. One reason for the dirty-air designations is "to communicate to the residents of the areas that the air they are breathing is not as healthy as our national standards," said Michael Leavitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, which makes the determinations.
The new designations are the result of a process that started in 1997 when the Bill Clinton administration tightened standards for ozone and fine particulate soot, which lodges in the lungs and contributes to lung disease, heart attacks and premature death.
In all, about 160 million people live in areas that will be affected by the new standards, up from 110 million affected by existing rules.
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