In America, Millions Breathe Too Much Soot

EPA Adds 15 Cities To Sooty Air List, Brings Total To 46; Environmentalists Critical Of Lax Standards

(AP)  More than 100 million people living in 46 metropolitan areas of the United States are breathing air that has become fouled with too much soot on some days, and now those cities have to clean up their air, the federal Environmental Protection Agency said Monday.

The EPA added 15 cities to the sooty air list, mostly in states not usually thought of as pollution-prone, such as Alaska, Utah, Idaho and Wisconsin. That probably is because of the prevalence of wood stoves in western and northern regions, a top EPA official said.

But environmentalists said the EPA was doing only half its job on soot-laden areas, letting off the hook some southern cities with long-term soot problems, such as Houston, Texas.

The EPA notified elected officials in 211 counties in 25 states that their air violated newly tightened daily standards for fine particles of pollution from diesel-burning trucks, power plants, wood-burning stoves and other sources. Those particles, often called soot, can cause breathing and heart problems.

These lists of what EPA calls "nonattainment areas" are important because regions that have air that is too sooty must develop plans by 2012 to show they plan to clean it, and then do so by 2014. When old power plants and factories in these areas expand or do major refurbishing, they have to show EPA that it would not further pollute the air. It could mean also controls on vehicle emissions and regions having to take pollution into effect when they build new roads.

Fifty-four counties that didn't violate soot standards in 2004, the last time EPA put out a list, do now. They include areas around Fairbanks and Juneau, Alaska; Nogales, Arizona on the Mexican border; Logan and Pinehurst, Idaho; Davenport and Muscatine, Iowa; Klamath and Oakridge, Oregon; Provo and Salt Lake City, Utah; Seattle, Washington; and Green Bay, Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The air is getting cleaner, but the daily soot standards were made nearly 50 percent tougher in 2006, said Robert Meyers, the principal deputy assistant administrator for air and radiation at EPA.

Since 2006, EPA has had two sets of soot standards and this list looks only at one of them. There are daily air quality standards and long-term yearly standards. The Bush Administration tightened the daily standard, but not the long-term one, despite EPA's science advisers' recommendation to do so.

[barbaram99]

It is not soot that is the issue. It is all them cars running the roads. They are the issue not soot. We had pretty blue skys and very few cars years ago. <br />Ye don''t ''member Three Mile Island they had a parial meltdown. I was in Portland Me at the time. The out of control govt that is the problem.

[downsteamjim]

terrapin: Nuclear waste becomes more dangerous each year because environmentalist prevent it from being carefully stored. These storage areas would cover much, much less area than toxic mine and industrial wastes now cover. Over time radiation subsides, mercury and other toxic metals last for ever.

[drputt45]

60 years ago, we heated our home with wood and coal. That was the fuel for centuries before that. It has been accumulating for decades. Maybe we need to stop and reverse, but there is nothing new out there. Just more testing of the atmosphere.

[terrapin78]

&quot;It has been discovered that citizens in the USSA have been breathing in too much soot that has been pumped into the air we breathe by those industries still burning coal, primarily the coal-burning energy industry.&quot;<br /><br />If you want to turn this into a political thing, its the democrats that support the environmentalists...unconditionally. And its the enviros that have prevented nuclear power plants from being built since the 70''''s.<br />Geee, wonder if we would have this global warming issue if we could have replaced the 100''''s of coal burning plants with few nuke plants 20 yrs ago?<br /><br />Posted by markavelli2 at 10:35 AM : Dec 23, 2008<br /><br /><br />Well, al Qaeda would probably have gotten the plutonium they want to use against us if we had more nuclear power plants.<br /><br />The nuclear waste is the problem besides the risk of meltdowns.

[skeezix06]

And for the uninformed, southern Missouri now has a smog index and a new coal plant that is no where near any coal deposits planned. That shows you how bad this is getting to be.

[skeezix06]

Subtitle: In America, Millions will not live long enough to retire. I guess that will ease the social security dilemma?

[markavelli2]

&quot;It has been discovered that citizens in the USSA have been breathing in too much soot that has been pumped into the air we breathe by those industries still burning coal, primarily the coal-burning energy industry.&quot;<br /><br /> If you want to turn this into a political thing, its the democrats that support the environmentalists...unconditionally. And its the enviros that have prevented nuclear power plants from being built since the 70''s.<br />Geee, wonder if we would have this global warming issue if we could have replaced the 100''s of coal burning plants with few nuke plants 20 yrs ago?

[slim1h2o]

<br />This is in keeping with the Great Emperor Bush''''s &quot;relaxing&quot; of restrictions on the coal industry and those utility companies operating coal burning plants. <br /><br />posted by walt1944<br /><br />Yup, but what do most of the government types focus on?<br /><br />Yup, that''s right,,, cigarette smokers! What good does it do to get rid of the smokers when people are breathing in air that''s far more harmful.<br /><br />It''s worrying about your neighbors toothpicks, before worrying about your own 2 by 4''s<br /><br /><br />

[markavelli2]

Lower the air quality standards then cry we are breathing poluted air. Just what one would expect from the crazy environmentalists. Will this ever stop?

[sepa2]

Without a doubt, the absolute most senseless, useless, pea-brained crackpot self-bloating, out-of-control remnant of Nazi America is the penny-ante EPA.<br />Its long past due time we crushed this 600-pound Dinosaur with a comet or something.<br />Posted by DaVicar3<br />--------------<br />Just like we did with stock market regulations