The Smog Blog: Smog To Go

This summer we are seeing increased ozone alert days across the nation due in part to a change in the EPA air quality standard for ozone.

Earlier this year, EPA slightly strengthened the 8-hour average National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone smog by lowering the 0.08 ppm limit to 0.075 ppm. The air quality standards are supposed to set the level of protection for the air we breathe. But the sad truth is that even the revised standard is not sufficiently protective of public health. The best scientific evidence indicates that a lower standard is needed to adequately protect the public health with a margin of safety.

EPA’s independent science advisors -- the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee -- unanimously recommended that EPA set the standard in the range of 0.060 ppm to 0.070 ppm in order to protect the health of sensitive populations including children, the elderly, and people with respiratory disease such as asthma. Now the American Lung Association is challenging the adequacy of the ozone standard in federal court.

You can find out more about the changes in the ozone alerts system here: http://www.epa.gov/air/ozonepollution/pdfs/2008_03_aqi_changes.pdf

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