The Ozone Report - Measuring Progress through 2003
Gupta, A. (1997) It's Been a Great Summer (Cough, Cough). New
York
Times, 4, 15:2, Aug 17, 1997.
Abstract: Everyone has been marveling at the weather in the Northeast
this summer -- clear and sunny, with only occasional rain. But hasn't
anyone
noticed the yellowish haze? The air pollution has been terrible. During
the first six weeks this summer, the Northeast United States officially
experienced ''unhealthy'' levels of ozone one out of two days. There's
a connection between beautiful days and the bad air: Nice weather makes
smog worse. Ozone smog forms when sunlight ''cooks'' nitrogen oxides
and
hydrocarbons that are emitted from power plants, factories and cars.
Sunny
days means more ozone gets formed, because when it doesn't rain,
pollution
can build up in the atmosphere and travel long distances while the
cooking
process continues. Fortunately, two important recent steps may hold the
promise of cleaner air not only for people living in the Northeast, but
for all Americans. Earlier this summer, President Clinton adopted
stricter
health standards for air quality, including reducing the acceptable
level
of ozone. Then Gov. George E. Pataki and several of his fellow
Northeast
governors petitioned the E.P.A. last week to force power plants in
upwind
states to reduce their emissions of pollutants.
Cushman, John H Jr (1997) Northeast States Pressuring E.P.A. to
Move
on Smog. New York Times, A, 1:6, Aug 8, 1997.
Abstract: Maine, Massachusetts, New York and several other ''downwind''
states have agreed to a common legal strategy that will press the
Federal
agency to act aggressively on the problem of wind- borne smog that
crosses
state lines and contributes to unhealthful air in New York City and
across
the Northeast. The petitions, brought under the Clean Air Act, will ask
the agency to impose strict new emissions limits on specific sources of
pollution, especially on coal-fired electric utility plants in states
like
Ohio, where pollution from power plants is not so tightly regulated as
in the Northeast. To bolster their case, the Northeasterners have
devised
a new way of reminding the public just how bad the smog is day to day,
using computerized weather maps that were shown on some television
stations
beginning today. Just as meteorologists have long been able to show
their
viewers snow moving in from the Great Lakes, they will now be able to
graphic
displays of smog creeping across the Northeastern states.
Wald, Matthew L. (1999) Court overturns air quality rules. New
York
Times (Late New York Edition) May 15, 1999, pA1+.
Abstract: In a 2-1 decision, a Federal appeals court has thrown out
air quality standards that had been a key aspect of the Clinton quality
standards that had been a key aspect of the Clinton
Administration's
antipollution strategy. The United States
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that in
setting standards for smog, the Environmental
Protection Agency had failed to adequately explain how it set its
standards,
which would limit the allowable levels of
extremely fine soot in the air to particles as small as 2.5 microns
across and also require that ozone, an essential part
of smog, not exceed a concentration of eight-hundredths of a part per
million in the air. Under current standards, ozone
concentrations are allowed to reach twelve-hundredths of a part per
million, and soot less than 10 microns across is not
regulated.
Preez-Pena, R. (1999) Heavy smog adds insult to misery. New
York
Times, August 1, 1999, p27.
Abstarct: Levels of ozone, a toxic chemical that burns the lungs,
stings
the eyes and can dim vistas with a brown haze, are the highest since
the
late 1980's, records kept by the State Department of Environmental
Conservation
show, and as usual, the worst of it has blanketed New York City and its
suburbs. The state has already exceeded the Federal standard for ozone
pollution more times this year than it did in each of the last
seven
years, and there are still two months to go in the May-to-September
smog
season. Even upstate areas that are used to relatively clean air
have had a few days this year that were smoggy enough to violate the
Federal
clean-air standard. The New York metropolitan area is one of several
around
the country classified by the Federal Government as being in ''severe
nonattainment''
of ozone standards, the second-worst category. Only Los Angeles and its
near suburbs are in the worst category, ''extreme nonattainment.''
Those
grouped with New York include the Chicago, Houston, Milwaukee,
Baltimore
and Sacramento metropolitan areas, and two areas on the outskirts of
Los
Angeles.
No Surrender on Clean Air. New York Times; New York; Sep 7,
1999
p A 18.