Posted on 01/09/2010 7:02:10 AM PST by IbJensen
Los Angeles (AP) - Parts of the country that haven't worried about air pollution may soon be in the fight California has faced for decades: cleaning up smog.
Stricter rules proposed Thursday by the Obama administration could more than double the number of counties across the country that are in violation of clean air standards. That would likely have a big impact on other parts of the nation since California already sets stringent standards for cars, ships and trucks.
"This kind of levels the playing field," said Leo Kay, spokesman for the California Air Resources Control Board. "In California we've set pretty tough air pollution standards for a long time now and this brings the rest of the country to the same level."
More than 300 counties -- mainly in southern California, the Northeast and Gulf Coast -- already violate the current, looser requirements adopted two years ago by the Bush administration.
For the first time, counties in Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, the Dakotas, Kansas, Minnesota and Iowa might be forced to find ways to clamp down on smog-forming emissions from industry and automobiles, or face government sanctions, most likely the loss of federal highway dollars.
The tighter standards will be costly but will ultimately save billions in avoided emergency room visits, premature deaths, and missed work and school days, the EPA said.
The proposal presents a range for the allowable concentration of ground-level ozone, the main ingredient in smog, from 60 parts per billion to 70 parts, as recommended by scientists during the Bush administration. That's equivalent to a single tennis ball in an Olympic-sized swimming pool full of tennis balls.
EPA plans to select a specific figure within that range by August. Counties and states will then have up to 20 years to meet the new limits...
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
REVOLTing development!
Great idea. Let’s wreck the rest of the country like California.
Congress created the EPA and Congress can muzzle it. It need to happen now.
Obama = Anything to destroy America.
Right. And I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.
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