EPA seeks to lower US ozone limit

Los Angeles Times : The US Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to reduce the federal standard for ground-level ozone. The EPA is required by the Clean Air Act to review the standard every five years. California, which has 16 areas that don’t meet the current ozone limit, will be particularly hard pressed if it is lowered. “We’re going to need to have zero or near-zero emissions across the entire economy,” said Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Although industry representatives and Republican members of Congress insist that lowering the environmental limit will damage the economy, Janice Nolen, assistant vice president of national policy at the American Lung Association, claims just the opposite: “Since the 1970s, we’ve reduced major air pollutants by 70% and the economy has more than doubled.”