EPA to Propose Tougher Smog Standards

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-exec/2007/jun/20/062000413.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to propose new smog reductions nationwide on Thursday in its first recommendation in a decade on one of the nation's most pervasive air pollutants.

The standard for ground-level ozone - also called smog - established in 1997 was 80 parts per billion. The new proposal will be for 70-75 parts per billion, although the agency will accept comments on keeping the current standard, say local air officials and environmentalists who have gotten advance details on the proposal.

Parts per billion is a measure of molecules in the atmosphere.

Environmentalists viewed the proposal as mixed because EPA wouldn't go as far as its scientific advisory panel recommended, and also because the agency will accept comments on retaining the existing standard.

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