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EPA Fails to Protect Public; 8.3 Million Residents in Chicagoland Area Left Vulnerable to Deadly Particle Pollution, Lung Association Warns

Posted on: Thursday, 21 September 2006, 18:01 CDT

CHICAGO, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of people in New York City area suffer the effects of breathing World Trade Center ash and dust that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said was safe, now the EPA is saying national air quality standards are keeping people safe, despite scientific evidence showing current national air quality standards are not protecting over 159 million US residents.

Today, EPA finalized a weak national clean air standard for deadly fine particle (soot) pollution which was deemed inadequate by its own professional staff, expert air pollution scientists that officially advise the Agency, and public health advocates, including the American Lung Association and the American Medical Association.

"The EPA had a choice: Endorse standards that will protect the residents of Chicagoland from this deadly pollutant, or side with polluting industries and consign millions of people to additional years of deadly pollution," noted Brian Urbaszewski, Director of Environmental Health.

Particle pollution is a dangerous and lethal air pollutant produced by coal-burning power plants, trucks, trains, traffic and other smokestack industries. Five large coal power plants in the Chicago area owned by Midwest Generation are among the largest sources of such deadly pollution in the region. Particle pollution is associated with increases in asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer, and premature deaths.

A new American Lung Association report, Clean Air Decision 2006, claims today's decision will leave more than 8.3 million Metropolitan Chicago residents still choking on unsafe levels of deadly particle pollution. People most vulnerable to particle pollution include children, senior citizens, and people with such chronic conditions as asthma, heart disease and diabetes.

National air quality standards define the levels of pollution that are deemed safe to breathe. Every community in the nation must then work to meet those standards through specific pollution cleanup programs such as controls on electric power plants.

EPA made no change in the standard that governs annual exposure to particle pollution. Urbaszewski noted that the EPA's own analysis shows the health standard championed by the Lung Association could prevent up to 86 percent of premature deaths that occur under the current particle pollution standard. EPA's final proposal would only prevent 22 percent of those deaths.

Clean Air Decision 2006 is available at the American Lung Association's website at http://www.lungusa.org/.

American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago

CONTACT: Kevin Tynan, +1-312-628-0225, Cellular: +1-312-659-6884, orMeghan Mahan, +1-312-628-0250, both of American Lung Association ofMetropolitan Chicago

Web site: http://www.lungchicago.org/http://www.lungusa.org/

Source: PRNewswire

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