EPA official says strict ozone rules protect health

Thursday, April 15, 2004 | 9:04 a.m.

Clark County is listed among 500 counties nationwide that violate federal clean air standards for ozone, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

EPA administrator Michael Leavitt said that the "dirty-air designations" released today should signal to communities that their air quality falls short of national standards.

About 160 million people live in areas affected by ozone, according to the EPA.

"Ozone is a regional problem," EPA Region 9 Air Division Director Deborah Jordan said. "The new standard protects people's health. It tries to protect people at longer exposure periods and at lower levels."

Studies show that ozone is a danger to human health, especially children, who are exposed over an extended period of time.

"We don't want to scare people and say the air is horrible," Jordan said. "That is not the case. The Las Vegas area has shown violation of the new, more protective ozone standard."

Clark County made the list under new federal standards set for the first time in more than 20 years by the EPA.

The old limit read ozone over a one-hour period. The new limit is more stringent because it measures the pollutant over an eight-hour period.

"Draconian measures" to reduce ozone should not be necessary in Las Vegas, Jordan said. Within the next few weeks, the agency will release limits for construction and agricultural vehicles, Jordan said, adding to the diesel rules already existing.

The EPA's list targets ground-level ozone, odorless and invisible, that combines with other chemicals to form smog on hot summer days.

Areas in violation, if they fail to produce a plan to improve air quality in three years, could lose federal funds for roads, and industrial development could be stopped unless companies prove they will not worsen pollution.

Clark County has several studies under way, including a review of pollution that might be drifting into the valley from Southern California, said Christine Robinson, director of the Clark County Air Quality Division.

Together with community representatives, county officials expect to develop a plan to curb ozone, Robinson said.

Although the nation's air is cleaner since the Clean Air Act passed in 1970, scientific research continues to lower estimates of the amount of pollution considered healthy to breathe. The national communities list began in 1997 when the Clinton administration reduced limits on ozone and fine particles of soot, which lodge in lungs and contribute to lung diseases, heart attacks and premature deaths.

Today's announcement by the EPA is for ozone. In December, the agency is expected to announce communities that exceed limits for soot.