제  목 : Tough New Air Standards Spark Debate
  일  자 : 1997년 03월
  제공처 : Safety ＆ health

    The Environmental Protection Agency's tough new proposed airquality
  standards for particulate matter and ozone have sparked a fierce debate
  between many industries, state governments, and environmental and health
  activists.

    The two pollutants are among the most widespread form of harmful air
  pollution, according to the EPA. Together, they contribute to acute
  health effects ranging from premature deaths to preventable respiratory
  problems.

    Particulate matter refers to fineparticle pollution, dust or soot that
  results from combustion by power plants or large incinerators. These
  small particles can penetrate deep into human lungs and cause a variety
  of respiratory problems, including premature deaths. Ozone is a compotnent
  of smog. Repeated human exposure to ozone can cause permanent structural
  damage to the lungs, aggravate asthma, and cause respiratory problems
  and diseases.

    Current airquality standards regulate larger,coarse particles of air
  pollution; the proposed standards would regulate smaller particles for
  the first time, while continuing to regulate larger particles.
  The proposed standards would further lower the amount of ozone emissions
  allowed over an eight-hour period, rather than the current one-hour period.

    Under the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Congress requires the EPA to
  review and incorporate the best avai1able science into public health
  standards to protect the public from air pollution. "The EPA proposal
  would provide new protection to nearly  133 million people, including
  40 million children," says Carol Browner, EPA administrator. "The
  scientific evidence tells us that the  current standards fail to provide
  adequate public health protection, especially for children."

    According to the EPA, the proposed standards would result in the
  following benefits for public health and the environment:

    ·Reduce premature deaths due to particulate pollution by 50
      percent, or approximately 20,000 per  year, and reduce serious
      respiratory problems in children by 250,000 cases per year
    ·Reduce aggravated asthma  episodes by more than 250,000 cases per year
    ·Reduce chronic bronchitis by an estimated 60,000 cases per year
    ·Cut haze and visibility problems by as much as 77 percent in some
      areas,including national parks
    ·Result in more than l.5 million fewer cases of significant breathing
      problems
    ·Significantly reduce the need for hospital admissions, missed school
      and work days, restricted activity, and emergency room visits
      for respiratory problems
    ·Reduce by nearly $l billion the agricultural crop losses due to
      ozone pollution

    at the Natural Resource Defense Council, welcomes the EPA's proposal.
  "EPA is responding to the overwhelming evidence that these pollutants
  are harming people's health and shortening lives," he says.

    "Acknowledging the harmful effects of these pollutants is the first
  step in protecting the public from them."  Under the new standards,
  hundreds of urban areas, including Chicago, New York, Salt Lake City,
  Detroit, Cleveland and Washington,D.C., would no longer be incompliance
  with the Clean Air Act.

    According to several industry groups, such noncompliance, or non-
  attainment, would hurt the economy of those areas,
  "The new standards will prevent businesses from expanding,and new
  companies won't be able to move into an area without putting somebody
  else out of business," says Owen Drey, associate director of Environ-
  mental Quality Policy at the National Association of Manufacturers.

    "The restrictions that the new, more stringent standards will have
  on business expansion and start-up will have a chilling effect on
  economic growth in this country."

    Fifteen governors and big-city mayors have expressed their opposi-
  tion to the proposed standards.They say the standards will put their
  regions into noncompliance and hurt local economies. Kentucky Governor
  Paul Patton says he wants President Clinton to "intervene in this
  crucial,ill-conceived proposal by the EPA to add costs where no benefit
  will be achieved."

    Health activists, however, support the proposed regulations as
  long-needed measures to protect the public health from two of the most
  pervasive air pollutants. "The proposed air-quality standards will usher
  in a new era of public health protections for millions of people," says
  Thomas F. Gibson, president of the American Lung Association.

    "Many recent scientific studies have shown that current standards are
  too weak to protect children with asthma.

    They are too weak to protect the  elderly. They are too weak to protect
  the millions of people with lung and heart disease.They are even too weak
  to protect healthy adults who exercise outdoors."

    Some industry representatives argue that the costs of complying with
  the proposed regulations will exceed their benefits. When cities are
  in nonattainment, it "can mean the loss of federal highway funds,

    mandatory car pooling and restrictions on household items such as
  lawn mowers and fireplaces," says Drey of the National Association of
  Manufacturers. "The effect sanctions like these would have on the
  pocketbooks and quality oflife in ordinary households is astounding.
  When it comes to cleaning up air pollution, heavy costs are placed
  directly on Consumers.

    Environmental groups say that such claims exaggerate the costs of
  compliance, and that the improvements in air quality could save the
  country $120 billion a year in lower healthcare costs and fewer missed
  workdays.

    According to Hawkins of the Natural Resources Defense Council,
  "America's polluting industries have launched a milliondollar war
  on the truth, and we've decided to fight back with facts."

    The EPA is expected to issue the final regulation in June l997.
  The proposed rule is available on the EPA's lnternet home page at
  httP://www.epa.gov/airlinks.

     It is also available by modem through  the Technology Transfer
  Network at(9l9) 54l-5742 under "Recently Signed Rules." For technical
  information, contact Jeff Clark in the  EPA's Once office of Air Quality
  Planning and Standards at (919) 54l-5557.