Ozone

October 19, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- BASF Corporation has agreed, under a Clean Air Act settlement filed today in federal court in Beaumont, Texas, to reduce the use of refrigerant chemicals that destroy the earth’s stratospheric ozone layer, the Justice Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced.

The company will spend more than an estimated $250,000 to retrofit one refrigeration unit that currently uses such chemicals, replacing them with environmentally-friendly alternatives, and will either retrofit or retire two other units. BASF will also pay a civil penalty of $384,200 to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations.    » read more »

Number of poor air quality days declines from 76 to three statewide

October 02, 2009 -- RICHMOND – Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced significant improvements in Virginia's air quality during the past decade. Between 1999 and 2009, the Commonwealth saw a 96 percent decrease in the number of days that exceeded the national air quality standard for ground-level ozone at monitoring stations statewide, with summer 2009 standing out as the best year on record.    » read more »

American Lung Association Applauds Decision by EPA to Reduce Threat from Dangerous Air Pollutant

9/16/09 -- Statement of Charles D. Connor, President and Chief Executive Officer, American Lung Association

Today the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Lisa Jackson, announced that the Agency will embark on a formal review of the national air quality standard for ozone, a decision that offers the opportunity to finally protect the health of millions of Americans from the most widespread and one of the most dangerous air pollutants.    » read more »

10TH Annual State of the Air Report Publishes Local Air Quality Grades Online

4/29/2009 -- Washington, D.C. -- The 10th annual American Lung Association State of the Air report released today finds that six out of ten Americans--186.1 million people -- live in areas where air pollution levels endanger lives.    » read more »

Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch announced that Rhode Island has joined a coalition of 13 other states, New York City, and Washington, DC, in suing the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to protect the public health and the environment.

Lynch said that the EPA and the Bush Administration are in violation of the Clean Air Act by having set weak standards that do not effectively regulate the amount of ground-level ozone air pollution allowed in the atmosphere.    » read more »

New Jersey Joins Multi-State Challenge to EPA Ozone Standards; Federal Lawsuit Alleges Violation of the Clean Air Act

May 28, 2008 -- TRENTON - New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram announced today that New Jersey has joined with 13 other states in challenging revised, ground-level ozone standards set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as weak and inadequate to protect the public health and welfare.

Industrial wasteland, New Jersey: Photo by Ari Moore (CC)    » read more »

Illinois Joins Other States to Petition EPA to Adopt More Stringent Standards To Better Protect Public Health

May 28, 2008 -- Chicago - Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, 13 other states, the District of Columbia and New York City have filed a petition with the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. seeking review of a final rule issued March 27, 2008, in which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adopted the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone.    » read more »

May 20, 2008 -- The Committee held holding a hearing titled, “EPA’s New Ozone Standards” at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20, 2008, in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building.

The hearing examined the new ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) and the process the Environmental Protection Agency used in setting them.    » read more »

May 20, 2008 -- A House Judiciary Committee investigation has uncovered details of White House involvement in EPA’s regulation of ozone on the eve of a court imposed deadline, forcing EPA staff to scrap a standard supported by its independent panel and to perform “emergency rewrites” to the regulation.

Documents obtained by the Committee show that EPA staff raised serious concerns about the merits and legality of the decision.

Click here for more information and supporting documents.

Source: Oversight Committee

Washington, D.C., May 19, 2008 -- EPA today honored 39 individuals, organizations and companies from around the world for their outstanding efforts to protect the Earth's climate and stratospheric ozone layer. The award recipients have demonstrated ingenuity and leadership by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, negotiating international agreements to protect the ozone layer and climate, and spreading awareness about the importance of these issues.

“Efforts to help restore the ozone layer and fight climate change will benefit the planet for generations to come,” said Bob Meyers, principal deputy assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Air & Radiation. “We commend the 2008 Climate and Ozone Layer Protection Award winners for their work to protect our environment.”    » read more »

April 21 -- The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) has issued a High Pollution Advisory for ozone for the Phoenix metropolitan area. Forecasted weather conditions on Tuesday, April 22 are expected to generate levels of ozone that may exceed the federal health standard.

Smog over Phoenix, Arizona: Photo by Bel Vezer (CC)

ADEQ recommends that children and adults with respiratory problems avoid outdoor activities on Thursday and suggests that the general public limit outdoor activity throughout the day.    » read more »

April 16, 2008 -- Oversight Committee Chairman Waxman issued a subpoena to compel the White House Office of Management and Budget to provide documents relating to EPA’s recent decision to establish ozone air quality standards that disregarded the recommendations of EPA staff and EPA’s independent scientific review committee.

Chairman Waxman made the following statement,

“Deadline after deadline has slipped and the White House has not provided the documents the Committee needs to understand what happened with this EPA rulemaking. We need these documents so that we can evaluate the President’s decision to overrule EPA and its panel of independent experts.”

Source: Oversight Committee

WASHINGTON (April 10, 2008) — Attention allergy sufferers: Climate change is bad for your health. Recent scientific studies have found that rising temperatures and higher carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are lengthening the allergy season and changing how plants produce allergens.

Sneeze: Photo by Matt Musselman (CC)

Meanwhile, other studies have determined that rising temperatures combined with vehicle pollution can trigger more ground-level ozone — a pollutant that causes respiratory problems — especially in urban areas that already suffer from poor air quality.    » read more »

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Calling the presence of ozone in the western Wyoming air a “significant concern,” today Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal responded to a citizen petition requesting that a health assessment be performed in Sublette County.

The letter from Freudenthal to Pamela Curry of Pinedale, who forwarded the petition, follows.

April 10, 2008

Pamela Curry
P.O. Box 1002
Pinedale, WY 82941

Dear Ms. Curry:

Thank you for your letter requesting that a Human Health Impact Assessment be conducted in Sublette County due to air quality and other concerns. From the data that has been collected, there is little doubt that ozone is a significant concern.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., March 14, 2008 -- This week, EPA met its requirements under the Clean Air Act and signed the most stringent 8-hour standard ever for ozone, revising the standards for the first time in more than a decade. The agency based the changes on the full breadth of the most recent scientific evidence about the effects of ozone, the primary component of smog.    » read more »