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Clean Air Gets a Hard Sell: 34 Employers Start Summer Campaign to Reduce Smog Levels

Posted on: Thursday, 1 June 2006, 21:00 CDT

By Bruce Henderson, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Jun. 1--Some of the Charlotte region's biggest employers, from Bank of America to Duke Energy, have signed on to a business-driven campaign to reduce summer smog levels beginning today.

With cars and trucks responsible for more than half the region's ozone-forming emissions, the companies will try to persuade their work forces to car pool, ride the bus or work from home when possible. Some businesses will change their operations to reduce emissions.

Despite its heavyweight lineup, the 34 businesses enrolled are short of the 50 the Clean Air Works campaign had aimed for. Organizers said they continue to recruit companies.

Business has a clear stake in air quality. Future industrial development, billions of dollars in transportation money and Charlotte's easy-living reputation are at risk if the air doesn't improve by the end of the decade.

But those penalties haven't been levied. Mecklenburg's ozone is on a downward trend, and county air-quality officials say ozone has not reached what they call unhealthy levels yet this year.

"Sell, sell, sell" employees on changing their driving habits, Mayor Pat McCrory urged a kickoff breakfast for the campaign. "You're going to have to do that because the pain's not here yet."

Ozone carries a human cost: About 15,000 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students have diagnosed or suspected asthma, which ozone aggravates. The county's 80,000 seniors are also at special risk, said Mecklenburg commissioner Jennifer Roberts.

Businesses fought a county proposal for mandatory smog-curbing rules two years ago, arguing for a voluntary approach.

"You can make it mandatory, but it's very hard for people to accept that," said Duke Energy Carolinas president Ellen Ruff. "And it's hard to change behavior, so we need to start now."

How to Read the Ozone Forecasts

Forecasts use the color-coded Air Quality Index to predict potentially unhealthy air. An AQI reading of 100 or higher -- orange, red or purple -- is a warning. Find daily forecasts on the Observer's weather page (8B today), TV weather reports and at www.ncair.org . Visit http://maps.co . mecklenburg.nc. us/website/airquality/ or call (704) 333-7664 for Mecklenburg County index readings.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)

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