Clean Air Program Reports
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Executive Summary
As the new home of Ohio PIRG's environmental work, Environment Ohio can be contacted regarding this report.
While air quality has improved in the
U.S. since the inception of the Clean
Air Act in 1970, more than 88 million
Americans still live in areas with unsafe
levels of fine particle pollution. Fine
particle pollution is one of the nation’s
most pervasive air pollutants and its most
deadly, causing tens of thousands of
premature deaths every year. This report
examines levels of fine particle pollution in
cities and towns nationwide in 2004 and
finds that fine particles continue to pose a
grave health threat to Americans.
Fine particle, or “soot,” pollution can
cause serious respiratory and
cardiovascular problems, including asthma
attacks, heart attacks, strokes, lung
cancer, and premature death. Moreover,
recent scientific studies show that such
adverse effects occur at levels below the
current national health-based air quality
standards, which include an annual
standard of 15 micrograms per cubic meter
(µg/m3) and a daily standard of 65 µg/m3.
Combustion sources such as coal-fired
power plants and diesel engines are the
largest source of fine particle pollution.
This report is based on a compilation of
2004 data from the nation’s network of
fine particle air quality monitors, as
detailed by the state environmental
agencies we surveyed. Key findings
include the following:
• In 2004, fine particle pollution
exceeded the annual and/or daily
national health standard at air quality
monitors in 55 small, mid-sized, and large metropolitan areas located in 21
states and home to 96 million people.
States with exceedances of both
standards included California, Georgia,
Pennsylvania, and Utah.
• In 2004, fine particle pollution
exceeded the annual national health
standard in 43 metropolitan areas
crossing 21 states’ borders. Riverside-
San Bernardino-Ontario, a large
metropolitan area in California, had
the worst annual fine particle pollution
of any metropolitan area, with a
maximum average annual level nearly
50 percent higher than the health
standard. Among mid-sized and small
metropolitan areas, Bakersfield and
the Hanford-Corcoran areas in
California had the worst annual fine
particle pollution.
• In 2004, fine particle pollution
exceeded the daily national health
standard in 20 metropolitan areas
crossing 10 states’ borders. Fine
particle pollution in these areas spiked
above the standard 92 times on 45
days.
• Among the states, Utah suffered the
most spikes in fine particle pollution
due to a winter-time temperature
inversion, with 47 exceedances of the
daily standard on 18 days in January
and February of 2004. California
experienced spikes in fine particle
pollution on 16 days, recording 30
exceedances in cities and towns across
the state.
• Of the largest metropolitan areas,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania experienced
the most days with spikes in fine
particle pollution, recording seven
exceedances on seven different days.
The Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario
metropolitan area in California ranked
second among the largest metropolitan
areas, recording 14 exceedances on six
different days.
• Logan, a small metropolitan area on
the border of Utah and Idaho, suffered
the most spikes in fine particle
pollution of any metropolitan area in
the country—17 exceedances on 17
days. The Logan metropolitan area
also recorded one of the highest
exceedances in 2004, a maximum spike
of 132.8, more than double the health
standard.
Unfortunately, the Clean Air Act’s New
Source Review program, which is critical
to reducing fine particle pollution from
aging power plants, continues to come
under attack. A recent analysis found that
eliminating the program would cut short
the lives of 70,000 Americans in the next
two decades, as a result of higher levels of
fine particle pollution in the air than
current law permits. Policymakers should
reject weakening changes to the program
and instead enforce the law.
Rather than take additional steps to
further limit levels of fine particle pollution in our air, however, the Bush
administration recently proposed to
maintain the status quo. Under the Clean
Air Act, the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) must set air quality
standards at levels that protect public
health, including the health of sensitive
populations, with an adequate margin of
safety. EPA also must review the
standards every five years to ensure they
reflect the latest scientific knowledge and
update the standards as needed.
EPA staff scientists and the Clean Air
Scientific Advisory Committee, an
independent review committee, separately
concluded in 2005 that the current
standards do not adequately protect public
health and recommended substantially
strengthening the standards. The Bush
administration, however, disregarded the
advice of these experts, proposing in
December 2005 to maintain the annual
health standard of 15 µg/m3 and slightly
lower the daily health standard from 65
µg/m3 to 35 µg/m3.
Given the extent of fine particle pollution
in the U.S. and the science showing serious
adverse health effects below the current
fine particle standards, the Bush
administration should adopt an annual
standard no higher than 12 µg/m3 and a
daily standard no higher than 25 µg/m3
when it finalizes the standards in
September 2006.
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