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Environmental News
Kris Lancaster(913) 551-7003
lancaster.kris@epa.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 6, 2004
KANSAS CITY EMPLOYERS RECOGNIZED FOR COMMUTER BENEFITS
Ten Kansas City employers are joining the Midwest Commuter Choice Program and enlisting their employees to help clear the air.
The 10 are American Century Investments; Transamerica; Hallmark; Faultless Linen; Kansas City, Mo., Public Works; HNTB; Jackson County Circuit Court; American Public Works Association; Blue Cross/Blue Shield; and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources/Discovery Center.
“Employers who encourage alternative transportation – be it installing bicycle racks, providing transit subsidies or finding car pool prospects through the Mid-America Regional Council’s RideShare Program – emphasize how important it is to reduce ozone levels,” EPA Region 7 Administrator Jim Gulliford said.
Gulliford said ground-level ozone is harmful to humans and crops. Scientific evidence indicates that certain levels of ozone not only affect people with impaired breathing, such as those with asthma, but healthy adults and children as well. Ozone is responsible for several billion dollars of agricultural crop yield loss each year in the United States alone.
He said the Commuter Choice Program is designed to help cities in the Midwest - such as Kansas City - that have challenging air quality issues. "Employer participation is helping people who live and work in those cities become familiar with transportation alternatives." The program has also signed on 40 employers in St. Louis since its inception in 2003. The Midwest Commuter Choice Program was written by the Mid-America Regional Council, Citizens for Modern Transit in St. Louis, and EPA Region 7 in Kansas City.
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http://www.epa.gov/region07/programs/artd/air/air.htm
