2005
21 June 2005. Environment:
Linking High Ozone to Increased Death Rates.
By ERIC NAGOURNEY, NY Times. Three
teams of researchers conducting separate
studies have concluded that high ozone pollution
is linked to higher death rates. The studies,
which appear in the July issue of Epidemiology,
"point to the urgent need to reduce
public exposures to ambient ozone by
all possible means," an accompanying
editorial argues...Two of the new studies
came to a very similar finding. For
every 10 parts per billion the daily
ozone level goes up, they said, the
death rate over the next three days
goes up about 0.85 percent...One study
reported finding "strong evidence
of a short-term association between
ozone and mortality, with larger effects
for cardiovascular and respiratory mortality."
16 April 2005. NY Times. Change
to the Clean Air Act Is Built Into New Energy
Bill. By MICHAEL JANOFSKY. WASHINGTON,
April 15 - Deep in the energy bill that
was approved by a House committee this week,
under a section titled "Miscellaneous,"
is a brief provision that could have major
consequences for communities struggling
to clean up their dirty air. If it becomes
law, it would make one of the most significant
changes to the Clean Air Act in 15 years,
allowing communities whose air pollution
comes from hundreds of miles away to delay
meeting national air quality standards until
their offending neighbors clean up their
own air. The provision could especially
affect states like New York, which has some
of the nation's dirtiest air, and other
Northeastern states that have always had
difficulty meeting federal standards for
ozone, a leading cause of smog, because
much of any state's pollution originates
in states to the south and west. Under the
new provision, the "downwind"
states would not be required to meet clean
air standards until the "upwind" states
that were contributing to the problem had
done so. Currently, states can get more
time but only if they agree to added cleanup
measures....
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