EPA Tightens Air Pollution Limits For First Time In A Decade

LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 14: A pigeon roosts above traffic moving through interchanges to the 110 Freeway, after Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Stephen L. Johnson this week announced a modest lowering of legal limits on ozone pollution standards, on March 14, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. The change angered not only industry groups who lobbied against the change but also medical, scientific and environmental groups who say that tougher limits are needed. EPA science advisors and a children's health panel had unanimously recommended tougher standards to protect the public, especially children and the elderly, from serious respiratory problems caused by breathing ground-level ozone that aggravates asthma and can lead to premature death, as shown by mounting evidence. A second proposal for more stringent seasonal limits on ozone based on its harm to forests, crops and other plants was reportedly quashed at the 11th hour by President Bush. Governments in areas where the air is declared dirty as the pollution limit of about 84 parts per billion changes to about 75 ppb over an average eight-hour period will have two decades to reduce their emissions.

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