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Environmental News
Dale Armstrong(913) 551-7003
armstrong.dale@epa.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 15, 2004
KANSAS CITY AREA REMAINS IN COMPLIANCE WITH ONE-HOUR STANDARD;
FURTHER EVALUATION NEEDED FOR DECISION ON EIGHT-HOUR STANDARD
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has identified the attainment
status of the Kansas City area as unclassifiable under the Agency’s
new eight-hour ozone standard.
Counties in the unclassifiable area are Jackson, Clay, Platte and Cass in Missouri and Wyandotte, Johnson, Linn and Miami in Kansas. The “unclassifiable” designation means that EPA believes the area cannot be classified as meeting or not meeting the standard on the basis of available information.
Jim Gulliford, EPA Region 7 administrator in Kansas City, Kan., said “The eight-hour measurement provides greater health protections for the nation and for Kansas City area residents than does the one-hour standard. Kansas City remains in compliance with the one-hour standard now, but the eight-hour ozone standard will be more difficult to meet.
“All eight-hour ozone monitoring data, including summer 2004, will be considered in making final designation decisions. It is critical that all of us in Kansas City contribute to improving air quality this summer. EPA will work closely with state and local officials in Kansas and Missouri to achieve these improvements.”
States with areas such as St. Louis that are out of compliance will develop plans laying out what actions they will take to achieve clean air. They must submit a plan to attain the standard by April 2007 and achieve the standard by a designated time after that.
Gulliford said EPA will work closely with state and local governments to help non-attainment areas meet eight-hour ozone standards and attainment areas remain in attainment. EPA is developing Clean Air Ozone rules to reduce transported pollution. Reduction in transported pollution will help many areas clean up their air on time.
The Clean Air Ozone Rules target ground-level ozone, a significant health risk, especially for children with asthma. Ground-level ozone forms when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants, industrial boilers, refineries, chemical plants, and other sources react chemically in the presence of sunlight.
By contrast, ozone that occurs naturally in the Earth’s upper atmosphere – 10 to 30 miles above the Earth’s surface – shields life on earth from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays.
The designations were announced today by EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt in Washington for about 100 metropolitan areas designated out of compliance.
The Clean Air Rules, including the Ozone Rule, are a suite of actions that will dramatically improve air quality. Three of the rules specifically address the transport of pollution across state borders (the Clean Air Interstate Rule, Clean Air Mercury Rule and Clean Air Non-Road Diesel Rule).
The Clean Air Fine Particles Rules target fine particles 2.5 microns
or smaller in size. These fine particles are linked to significant health
problems including increases in premature deaths and a range of serious
respiratory and cardiovascular effects.
