By Christopher Wilson, May 19, 2015
The 2015 State of the Air report from the American Lung Association recently confirmed that four in 10 Americans are living in areas with harmful levels of ozone pollution. But the big oil companies have just launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign telling us our country doesn’t need and can’t afford stronger limits on ozone.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Here’s why:
1. Ground-level ozone — or smog — is really damaging to our health and the natural environment
Ozone is the most pervasive air pollutant
in the United States today. It is formed in the atmosphere when chemical
compounds emitted by vehicles, industrial processes, power plants, and
other sources interact in the presence of sunlight and heat.
Ozone is also among the most harmful air
pollutants. Elevated ozone levels cause lung irritation, aggravate
asthma, and worsen chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — leading to
increased emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and premature deaths.
Ozone endangers the health of our children, elderly, people with
chronic diseases, and healthy people working or exercising outdoors.
Among the most vulnerable are the estimated 25.9 million Americans with
asthma, including 7.1 million children.
Scientific research has shown for some
time that ozone causes harm at — and well below — the current national
air quality standard of 75 parts per billion (ppb). This conclusion has
been supported by three separate, highly expert scientific panels that
have reviewed the extensive evidence — under Republican as well as
Democratic administrations.
Most recently, after a four-year public process assessing all the latest science, EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee recommended
revising the ozone standard to a level between 60 and 70 ppb, noting
that the lower end of the range would provide the best health protection
with an adequate margin of safety.
Based on current science, the American
Lung Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American
Public Health Association, and other leading health and medical
organizations are calling for a new ozone standard of 60 ppb.
The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed
a new standard for ozone in the range of 65 to 70 ppb. Though not as
protective as many experts would like, these limits would have huge
benefits for Americans’ health.
Altogether a new standard set at 65 ppb
would prevent annually an estimated 960,000 asthma attacks, 1 million
lost school days, and 180,000 lost work days. Most importantly, it would
prevent up to 4,300 premature deaths each year.
National standards for ozone and other air
pollutants are the basis for the Air Quality Index (AQI), the system
that informs us about the daily air quality in our communities. Parents,
seniors, coaches, and others rely on air quality alerts to know whether
they should take steps to limit outdoor time when air quality is poor.
With the current outdated ozone standard,
there is a real, ongoing risk that we will think our air is healthy when
it is not. This deprives us of the opportunity to protect ourselves
from unhealthy conditions.
The Clean Air Act requires EPA to set the
ozone standard at a level that will protect human health, without taking
costs into account. However, costs, timing, and technology are fully
considered during the implementation phase when states and communities
work with EPA to craft cleanup plans.
Cost-effective technology to reduce
ozone-forming pollutants already exists. With wider and more consistent
use, it will take industry a long way toward reducing ozone affordably.
Efforts underway to clean up power plants, diesel trucks, and car
emissions will also contribute greatly to achieving lower ozone levels —
at a cost our country can handle.
EPA has projected
that the total benefits of a more protective ozone standard will
significantly outweigh its costs. The benefits of a 65 ppb standard are
estimated at $21 billion to $42 billion annually after 2025, compared
with yearly costs of $16.6 billion.
There is good reason to think that EPA’s
cost-benefit estimates are in the ballpark. The Office of Management and
Budget in a 2013 report to Congress calculated that 21 EPA air pollution rules from 2002 to 2012 had benefits of $529 billion compared with costs of $35 billion.
Contrary to repeated dire predictions from
polluting industries, achieving cleaner air has never been at odds with
building a strong economy. Since 1970, dangerous pollutants in
America’s air have been reduced by 68 percent, while our economy has grown by 240 percent.
Our country has been making steady progress in reducing ozone pollution over the past four decades. According to EPA’s trend analysis,
ozone levels have dropped by 33 percent since 1980 and 18 percent
between 2000 and 2013. The vast majority of our states and counties
could achieve a stronger ozone standard just by working with existing
technology and control measures that are already in place.
Counties facing serious ozone challenges
will have additional time to comply with a new standard, potentially up
to 2037, depending on the severity of their air quality problems. Most
of these areas are already well engaged in measures to drive down high
ozone levels and recognize that these efforts are critical to the health
of their residents.
Cleaning up ozone pollution is one of most important environmental challenges we face today. Despite the ads from America’s big polluters, it makes no sense to dial back our efforts now. We need to keep at it until our air is safe and healthy — building on our decades of success in reducing air pollution and our world-leading capacity for innovation.
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