By BRIAN SCHEID
New federal standards on smog do not go nearly far enough to clean up
the Philadelphia region's air, environmental officials throughout
Pennsylvania said Thursday.
“We're disappointed,” said Nathan Willcox, an energy and clean air
advocate with PennEnvironment, a statewide environmental group. “In the
long run, this means that fewer states and municipalities will have to
adopt more aggressive air pollution reduction plans.”
On Wednesday night, the federal Environmental Protection Agency
announced it would reduce the federal smog standard about 6 percent from
80 to 84 parts per billion to 75 parts per billion. In a statement, EPA
administrator Stephen Johnson said the new standard would keep “our
clean air progress moving forward.”
But the new standard is still much higher than many environmentalists
and even the EPA's own scientists had pushed for. Nearly a year ago,
EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee wrote that it was
“unanimous in recommending” a standard of 70 parts per billion at the
highest and possibly set the standard as low as 60 ppb.
“Sound science must be used in setting public policy, and that has not
happened in this case,” said Kathleen McGinty, secretary of
Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection. “Unfortunately,
this action is in keeping with the EPA's track record of ignoring
science and making decisions based on politics.”
Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz, D-13, blasted the new standard in a
letter to the EPA's Johnson. “It seems that EPA has put politics ahead
of policy and ignored the advice of the scientific community,” Schwartz
wrote.
Congressman Patrick Murphy, D-8, who wrote a letter to the EPA last year
urging the agency to lower the standard to 70 parts per billion or
lower, said he was “disappointed” by the EPA's decision.
Air quality in the Philadelphia region, including Bucks and Montgomery
counties, has been ranked the 12th worst in the nation. Bucks and
Montgomery counties are two of the 85 counties in the U.S. nation that
still fall short of the old federal smog rules set a decade ago. Air
quality in both counties also received failing grades in a 2007 American
Lung Association report.
Scientists claim that ozone pollution, or smog as it's commonly known,
is the most widespread outdoor air pollutant in America. It forms when
volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxide emissions from power
plants, factories and vehicles mix with heat and sunlight.
Joe Minott, executive director of Pennsylvania's Clean Air Council,
called smog a “poisonous form of oxygen that burns the lungs.” It has
been linked to several illnesses, most commonly asthma.
“The Philadelphia area has a chronic problem with ozone smog,” Minott
said. “It is a persistent health problem in this region and it's going
to take a real effort to get the air quality to the point where it's
healthy.”
Minott called the EPA's new standard “a half-measure,” but said it was
“a step forward.”
Murphy's district includes Bucks County, some districts of Abington,
Upper Dublin and Upper Moreland in Montgomery County and two wards in
Philadelphia. Schwartz's district includes the majority of Montgomery
County and Northeast Philadelphia.
