BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Getting through the summer without a smog violation on the old standard doesn't mean Southwest Ohio air is good enough, industry critics warned Thursday.
Had the air been judged against the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) tougher, new ozone limit, it would have gone over the top at least 10 days.
"If you live almost anywhere in Ohio, chances are very good that you were exposed to high levels of smog this summer," said Kurt Waltzer of the Ohio Environmental Council. "If you lived in Southwest Ohio, the chances were extremely good."
Hamilton County recorded 10 days over the 84 parts per billion (ppb) limit for ozone, the health-threatening ingredient in smog, he said. Clermont logged 11 days; Warren, 15, and Butler, 17.
Some of those readings were on the same day, Mr. Waltzer cautioned, and they should not be added together.
The analysis was released at a press conference by the council, the Sierra Club and the American Lung Association of Ohio.
Virtually everyone is affected on high ozone days, even if they do not feel it, Dr. Christopher Harris said, but youngsters are hurt most because they inhale more smog relative to their size. A lung specialist at Children's Hospital Medical Center, Dr. Harris said he sees asthmatic children in the emergency room "breathing faster, harder and wheezing" on high ozone days.
The EPA hopes to reduce ozone to the new limit of 84 ppb largely by reducing pollutants from coal-fired power stations.
Ned Ford, a consultant and energy efficiency specialist with the local Sierra Club chapter, said that could save at least $70 billion nationally in annual health-related costs. Reducing ozone also would prevent 15,000 to 20,000 premature deaths a year nationally from air pollution, he said.
Put another way, Mr. Ford said, Americans could save $4 for every dollar spent on pollution control.
In local terms, that would be roughly 1,000 lives and $3 billion saved annually in Ohio, he said. Industry says costs will be higher and savings smaller, he conceded.
