No mention of mercurey fillings EPA

From: Joel M. Eichen (joeleichen_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 12/18/04 

Date: Sat, 18 Dec 2004 08:21:10 -0500

Posted on Fri, Dec. 17, 2004
 
 
  
 R E L A T E D L I N K S
 • List of the counties cited
 • On the Web | EPA report
 • U.S., Europe at odds on emissions controls
 
 

EPA Says 224 Counties Fail Air Standards

JOHN HEILPRIN

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday that
224 counties in 20 states and the District of Columbia don't meet new
air quality health standards because of microscopic soot from
diesel-burning trucks, power plants and other sources.

The regulations will affect an estimated 95 million people in the
United States and are meant to help relieve respiratory and heart
ailments from breathing fine soot.

All but three of the states - Missouri, California and Montana - are
east of the Mississippi River. States have until 2008 to come up with
new plans for reducing the fine particle pollution and must act
quickly to meet the new government standard by 2010.

Their actions could include modifying transportation plans, requiring
new pollution controls when factories expand or putting in place
stricter vehicle emission and inspection programs.

In severe cases, the EPA could grant five-year extensions, letting
states take up to 2015 to comply with the new rule.

The largest concentrations of counties in noncompliance with the new
standard are in the Los Angeles basin and interior central California;
the urban corridor from New York City to Washington, D.C.; the region
extending from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh; the Ohio River Valley;
Atlanta; St. Louis; Chicago; and Detroit. The only other Western area
was a small corner of northwestern Montana.

Outgoing EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt announced the list, which
included 19 fewer counties than the agency identified in a preliminary
report in June.

"This is not a story about the air getting dirtier. It is a story
about higher, more stringent standards and healthier air," Leavitt
told a news conference. "We're going to implement over the course of
the next few months new national tools. In essence we're going to do
the same thing for smokestacks that we have done for tailpipes."

In May, governors submitted to EPA a list of 141 counties they viewed
as failing to meet the soot requirements. EPA broadened that to
include many other counties, not because their air is too dirty
because their pollution contributes to nearby areas out of compliance.

Counties were placed on the list or removed due to factors such as
emission rates, recent air quality, population density, traffic and
commuting patterns, expected growth, weather and geography, legal
boundaries and the level of pollution controls.

Leavitt emphasized that the agency was for the first time specifically
regulating for fine particles, or soot, that are 2.5 micrometers in
diameter, or 30 times smaller than human hair. EPA considers it
potentially the most significant air quality health standard, because
soot can penetrate deeply into the lungs.

The regulations have been a long time coming, as they were first laid
out in 1997 by the Clinton administration but held up for years
because of court challenges by industry that went all the way to the
Supreme Court, which upheld the standard. They are also meant to
update and complement the 1987 standard for reducing soot particles 10
micrometers in diameter, or one-seventh smaller than human hair. Those
had mostly targeted dusty air from things such as mining tailings,
factory debris, unpaved roads and windblown dust.

According to EPA, the new standard will prevent at least 15,000
premature deaths, 95,000 cases of bronchitis and 10,000 hospital
admissions for breathing and heart diseases.

Environmentalists say, however, that states will find it tough to
impossible to meet the standard without accompanying action to reduce
soot pollution from power plants. President Bush decided last week to
delay putting in place at least until March a companion regulation he
had promised on the campaign trail that would address soot drifting
among states.

"This is also a story about EPA failing to finalize rules to clean up
power plant pollution," said Michael Shore, an air policy specialist
at Environmental Defense, an advocacy group. "The Bush administration
frankly deserves a lump of coal for its failure to protect the health
of our children from power plant pollution."

The states with counties in violation are Alabama, California,
Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland,
Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

ON THE NET

EPA: http://www.epa.gov/pmdesignations