(8 January 2003 — New York)  Environmental Defense today praised Senator Joseph Lieberman (D - Connecticut) and Senator John McCain (R - Arizona) for introducing landmark legislation designed to cut and cap the greenhouse gas pollution that America is contributing to global warming.  In hearings today before the Senate Commerce Committee, the Senators presented the bill, which creates a comprehensive cap on greenhouse gas pollution, paired with an allowance trading system to ensure cost-savings and encourage innovation across the full range of opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas pollution and enhancing the uptake of carbon by soils, crops and trees.

“Today’s serious bi-partisan climate legislation marks an end to stalling and the start of the search for serious solutions to the global warming problem,” said Environmental Defense president Fred Krupp.  “The bill’s cap on greenhouse gas pollution takes on the problem of global warming in a strong and sensible way.  Everyone knows a diet only succeeds if you take weight off and keep it from coming back; the same is true of cutting pollution.  The McCain - Lieberman legislation cuts pollution and keeps it from building up in the future while protecting America’s environment and economy.”

“This bill creates a long overdue comprehensive, national policy for cutting the U.S. greenhouse gas pollution that threatens to dangerously disrupt the Earth’s climate,” said Environmental Defense senior attorney Joe Goffman.  “As the bill moves through the legislative process, many of its details doubtless will be changed - but its fundamental and most important features should remain and the high public profile of the bill’s sponsors points to the climate change issue impacting next year’s presidential race.”

“In bringing greenhouse gas pollution below current levels by the middle of the next decade, the bill will protect American citizens and the Earth’s environment from the impacts of climate change.  The bill’s cost-lowering emissions trading market will cut more dangerous pollution than traditional bureaucratic approaches and promote innovation while spurring American economic growth,” said Krupp.

(18 December 2002 — Washington D.C.)  If you drive fewer than 10,000 miles per year, chances are you’re paying more than your fair share for car insurance.  Pay-As-You-Drive (PAYD) insurance, an innovative concept that links insurance polices to an odometer rather than just a date on the calendar, can fix this inequity.  Consumers now have the web-based tools to convince insurance companies and elected officials to bring PAYD insurance to their communities.  The new content can be viewed at www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?contentid=2205 on the Environmental Defense web site.

“Mileage-based car insurance could, at no cost to the public sector, reduce driving, air pollution and traffic congestion by 10% or more,” said Michael Replogle, transportation director of Environmental Defense.  “A reduction in driving will benefit the 142 million Americans who live in areas where the air they breathe puts them at risk.”

Consumers deserve the opportunity to buy auto insurance policies that better reflect their risk, allowing them to save money and the environment by driving less.  Environmental Defense encourages consumers to demonstrate to insurance companies that a market for PAYD insurance exists by taking the Pay-As-You-Drive Pledge online at www.actionnetwork.org/campaign/payd. 

PAYD makes insurance more affordable by giving drivers control over their premium.  Giving drivers a monetary incentive to drive fewer miles will decrease their insurance premiums and will lessen their annual fuel and maintenance costs.  PAYD alleviates the problem of uninsured motorists by making it easier for low-income drivers to buy small increments of insurance.

Premiums are more equitable with PAYD.  Under the current system, low-mileage drivers, usually low-wage earners, seniors, carpoolers and bus riders, subsidize the high-mileage, high-claim drivers.  New data suggests that the number of miles driven better reflects a driver’s risk of being in an accident.  PAYD is also expected to increase safety by reducing crashes by 17%.

(18 December 2002 — Raleigh, NC)  Environmental Defense today issued a report showing that 21 eastern states can reap more than $1 billion annually in public health benefits by reducing dangerous nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from power plants year-round, rather than just the summertime months mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  “A Plan for All Seasons: Costs and Benefits of Year-Round NOx Reductions in Eastern States” shows operating pollution control equipment year-round to reduce NOx and other pollutants will cost power plants only 27% more while doubling the health benefits for each state.  The complete report is available at www.environmentaldefense.org/go/noxreport.

“Polluted air is unhealthy to breathe in January or July, and policy makers in eastern states should make a New Year’s resolution to reduce NOx emissions all year long, not just during summer months,” said Michael Shore, southeast air quality manager for Environmental Defense.  “Utility companies in many eastern states are installing pollution control equipment, but few facilities intend to operate this equipment year-round, even though NOx contributes to a suite of public health and environmental problems throughout the year.  Once capital investments are made, the cost of operating the equipment 12 months rather than only five months is relatively small while the public health benefits, including reduced illness and mortality, are huge.”

Only a handful of states — North Carolina, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Texas — have instituted policies to curb NOx and other pollutants throughout the year. 

“As states take action to control NOx and other power plant pollutants year-round, a domino effect will be created, encouraging other states to follow examples set by regional neighbors.  As more states adopt rigorous standards, EPA will have proven models and a more favorable climate in which to examine air quality policies, making comprehensive action at the federal level more likely,” said Shore.

NOx pollution, along with sulfur dioxide, contributes to more than 20,000 deaths each year in 21 eastern states.   NOx emissions also contribute to a host of year-round environmental problems, from acid rain and haze in the mountain regions to oxygen depletion in coastal estuaries that degrades water quality and harms fish.

(16 December 2002 —Washington, DC) Environmental Defense today sounded a note of optimism about protection for the nation’s wetlands following a 4-4 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Borden Ranch v. United States.

“The Supreme Court has issued a reprieve from destruction for the nation’s wetlands,” said Environmental Defense senior attorney Tim Searchinger.

In its ruling, the Justices affirmed by an equally divided court, an earlier ruling by a lower court, which held that a developer could not destroy wetlands on a ranch by converting them into a vineyard without a permit under the federal Clean Water Act.

“A wrong decision in this case would have made it easier to destroy almost any wetland area in the country,” Searchinger said. “It is disappointing, however, that a majority of Justices did not support this opinion since six appeals court rulings over the past twenty-five yeas have consistently held that the Clean Water Act requires a permit for similar activities that destroy wetlands.”

In the Borden Ranch case, a California developer, Angelo Tsakopoulos, used a 100,000-pound machine to pull a massive rake seven feet down in the soil in order to convert the ranch and its wetlands into a vineyard. The developer’s actions destroyed the wetlands that drained and filtered runoff from the ranch both by filling them in with sediment and by breaking up a dense soil layer that held water on the surface. Following twenty-five years of established precedent, the lower courts held that a permit was needed to destroy the wetlands - setting up a challenge before the Supreme Court.

“Both arguments in the Borden Ranch case would have created loopholes in the Clean Water Act big enough to drive a bulldozer through,” said Searchinger. “First, they argued that any developer could freely destroy a wetland if it was done just by pushing earth around. Unfortunately, that is how most wetlands are destroyed. Tsakopoulos also argued that farmers are free to destroy wetlands if the action is taken to plant crops, the leading cause behind the country’s existing wetland loss. Either loophole would leave most wetlands defenseless.”

Searchinger also called on the Bush administration not to proceed with plans to rewrite rules under the Clean Water Act that protect wetlands and streams. While timing for the action is unclear, warnings suggest that the administration could eliminate protection for large chunks of the nation’s wetlands and rivers. “The Bush administration should show similar mercy for the country’s wetlands,” Searchinger said.

(16 December 2002 — Raleigh, NC)  Environmental Defense criticized new regulations expected today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to control air and water pollution generated by industrial livestock production.  The group said regulations due to be announced today are expected to do little to offset environmental and public health impacts from major air emissions and wastewater runoff from factory farm operations. 

“Factory farms discharge a staggering amount of contaminants into the atmosphere, and the EPA regulations fail to seriously address air emissions and their well-documented impacts on public health and water quality,” said Dan Whittle, senior attorney with Environmental Defense.  “The new rules are a major step backward.”

“The federal technology guidelines and permitting rules announced today allow the continued use of rudimentary open-air lagoons and the land application of animal waste, despite the fact that North Carolina and other livestock producing states have banned these outdated waste systems on new farms.  The real solution to air and water pollution caused by factory farms lies in requiring owners and operators to use better waste treatment technologies, which are readily available and affordable.  The new EPA regulations fail to recognize this basic issue in controlling factory farm pollution.” said Whittle. 

A report on industrial livestock production issued by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) on December 12 identified ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, methane, particulate matter, nitrous oxide and odor as significant contributors to air pollution.  Atmospheric deposition of ammonia nitrogen into waterways is also a major source of pollution, especially in coastal waters such as North Carolina’s. The NAS report called on EPA to make immediate reductions in atmospheric emissions.

(12 December 2002 — Washington, D.C.)  Environmental Defense today noted the significance of a reported new federal proposal to raise fuel economy for light trucks, but said the package falls far short of what is needed to reverse 15 years of steady increases in greenhouse gas pollution from the U.S. auto fleet or to stem the nation’s continued reliance on oil.

“After years of neglect, policymakers are long overdue to address oil demand and global warming emissions from autos.  Automakers have the technology to do much more than the administration’s proposal asks, and much stronger action is urgently needed.” said Kevin Mills, director of Environmental Defense’s Pollution Prevention Alliance.

The proposed rule, drafted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, calls for an increase of 1.5 miles per gallon between 2005 and 2007 in federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for light trucks, including most minivans, pickups, and SUVs. 

“Although this proposal is too weak, it is significant in several ways,” said John DeCicco, a senior fellow and automotive specialist at Environmental Defense.  “First, its timetable recognizes that beneficial design changes are available to improve efficiency without delay.  Also, by targeting light trucks, it focuses on the most important part of the fuel consumption problem.  Finally, the proposal validates the CAFE standard as a valuable tool, in spite of U.S. automakers’ misleading campaigns against it, and codifies the need for regulation instead of vague, voluntary promises that some firms have proffered in its stead.”

“While the new CAFE proposal will yield slightly better gas mileage in SUVs and other light trucks,” said Mills, “the marginal utility of this proposal will be undermined if the administration extends CAFE credits for flexible-fuel vehicles.  These credits allow automakers to offset their fuel economy standards by selling vehicles capable of using alternative fuels even when such fuels have very limited availability.  Environmental Defense has recommended allowing these counter-productive credits to sunset, as they will unless the administration extends them.” 

“It is a sad reflection on the state of U.S. energy policy that this small step is in fact the most meaningful step the country has taken on oil dependence and its associated impacts in over a generation,” said DeCicco.  “American consumers deserve much better protection from swings in fuel price and the risks of global warming.  We urge the administration to substantially strengthen the rule before finalizing it next spring.”

(12 December 2002 — Raleigh)  Environmental Defense today praised a new report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) that confirms the need to reduce air pollution generated by factory farms to curb serious public health and environmental impacts.  The group called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to follow the report’s recommendations and take immediate action to reduce dangerous emissions of major air pollutants.  On December 16, EPA is scheduled to release new regulations for livestock production, which are unlikely to address air emissions.  USDA is also handing out hundreds of millions of dollars to factory farms to manage their manure better, but these funds have so far done little to control air emissions. 

“The NAS report confirms that factory farms are polluting the air we breathe and the waters in which we swim and fish and provides a scientifically sound method to measure environmental impacts,” said Joe Rudek, senior scientist with Environmental Defense, who reviewed the report for NAS.  “In the past, industry has hidden behind claims of insufficient science to delay action.  Now the industry’s excuse for inaction has evaporated.”

“Unfortunately, both EPA and USDA have done almost nothing so far to address air pollution, a huge part of the factory farm problem,” said Rudek.  “Because the pollution that evaporates from factory farms comes back down in rainfall and contaminates our water, it makes little sense for EPA to issue new water rules for factory farms that do nothing to curb air pollutants.  If EPA’s rules only focus on spills and the use of manure on land, they could actually encourage factory farms to increase air pollution.  That would mean more noxious odors and unhealthy air for downwind neighbors.”

“USDA may spend as much as $2 billion in the next few years to help livestock operators deal with manure,” said Suzy Friedman, agriculture policy analyst with Environmental Defense.  “In the past, almost none of this money has helped control air pollution and odor.  USDA has instead focused too much on bigger lagoons that are a part of the problem.  This report should spur USDA to help farmers manage manure more comprehensively.  The good news is that some of the technologies to control air pollution and odor can also turn manure into electricity and help farmers with their bottom lines.”

(11 December, 2002 — Boston)  According to a new report issued today by Environmental Defense’s Alliance for Environmental Innovation, environmental sustainability and business success can go hand in hand for corporate seafood buyers.  Through extensive research, the report, entitled Business Guide To Sustainable Seafood, shows that while some seafood products have major environmental problems, a wide variety of high quality, competitively priced, and environmentally responsible products are available.

“Seventy percent of world fish stocks are fully exploited or overfished, and catches are declining,” said Bruce Hammond, project manager at Environmental Defense.  “Our research shows that, while some species are overfished, businesses and consumers can make more sustainable seafood selections that are similar in taste and texture, often lower in cost, and provide greater supply stability.”

For example, Atlantic cod, which is overfished, can be replaced in many applications by other mild white fish such as New Zealand hoki or farmed tilapia - at substantial cost savings.  Chilean sea bass is also being over-fished and caught illegally, but sablefish offers a comparable flaky white meat and high oil content at a fraction of the cost.

The report highlights several potential business benefits from sustainable seafood purchasing—from good public relations and lower costs to better quality and more predictable supply.

The report, available at www.environmentaldefense.org/alliance asks businesses to switch to environmentally preferable seafood products, promote sustainable seafood products as a good way to grow their business and preserve fishery resources, and educate consumers about the overexploitation of fisheries and the alternative choices available to them.

The Alliance for Environmental Innovation, a project of Environmental Defense, works cooperatively with companies to create environmental solutions that make business sense.

(9 December, 2002 — Honolulu) The future of the controversial Canada-based Inco company’s Goro Nickel mine in New Caledonia is in question today following the announcement that it was ceasing Goro Nickel operations for the next six to twelve months to conduct a comprehensive review of the project. News of potential 45% cost overruns, the company’s failure to secure over $350 million dollars in French government tax breaks and loans by year’s end, and analyst doubts regarding the credibility of Inco management sent stock prices tumbling. Inco had previously told investors that French subsidies - dependent upon approval of the company’s extraordinarily weak Environmental Impact Assessment - and a Japanese partnership would be in place before the end of 2002.

The company’s Environmental Impact Assessment was the subject of a recent Environmental Defense analysis (www.environmentaldefense.org/go/knc), which highlighted French agency assessments of the mine’s potential to dump mercury, toxic forms of chromium and aluminum onto the country’s fragile reefs. Our analysis also flagged the underreporting of potential health risks to mine workers and the apparent lack of information provided to shareholders about significant financial and environmental risks associated with the mine in Inco’s last annual 10K Securities and Exchange Commission report, published in early 2002.

New Caledonia, also called Kanaky, is a territory of France identified by Nature as one of the world’s top “biodiversity hotspots” with 75% of its plants found nowhere else in the world, containing one of the world’s largest lagoon and reef systems. Foreign contractors had begun constructing the $1.4 billion Inco nickel-cobalt mining facility, slated to use an unproven, dangerous pressure acid leach technology in the midst of botanical reserves in an area adjacent to fragile reef systems proposed for nomination as a World Heritage Site. However, in the face of stiff indigenous and environmentalist opposition to its plans and in the aftermath of this year’s failure to obtain French public finance, the company’s plans have faltered.

“Given recent corporate scandals, we hope that Inco has not misled shareholders about the risks associated with the Goro Nickel operation. We are gratified to see that the French Ministry of Finance has not rushed to provide subsidies for this controversial operation. The French Development Agency, AFD, however, has certainly gone out on a limb by making the first portion of its planned loans. The time has come for publicly funded agencies to require basic environmental and indigenous rights standards for projects they support,” said Environmental Defense senior scientist, Stephanie Gorson Fried. “As these recent cost overruns and scientific assessments show, underwriting the Goro Nickel mine not only produces unacceptable and environmental risks, but it is also a financially unsound use of public funds.”

(22 November 2002 — Washington, D.C.)  The Bush Administration today is expected to put forward policies that will expose Americans to harmful air pollution by broadly exempting power plants and industrial facilities nationwide from long-standing federal air pollution control measures.  The new policies will gut a Clean Air Act program that has been instrumental in protecting the health of Americans and local air quality for 25 years.  The air quality protections under the “new source review” program have historically required power plants, refineries, steel mills, chemical plants and other large industrial sources that lack modern pollution control systems to update their pollution reduction technology when they take action that significantly increases air pollution.

“Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is stripping away vital, cost-effective clean air measures that have protected Americans from the harmful effects of industrial air pollution for a quarter century, ” said Environmental Defense senior attorney Vickie Patton.  “Today’s action puts Americans in communities across the country at serious health risk by exempting thousands of power plants, refineries and other major industrial facilities from fundamental air pollution controls.”  

EPA data indicates that even without today’s rollbacks, large pollution sources such as power plants release about 11.4 million tons of harmful sulfur dioxide and 5.2 million tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides each year, comprising 62% and 21% of the national totals for these contaminants. 

“Medical research documents that current air pollution levels from power plants have serious effects on people’s hearts and lungs.  Given this body of information, we should be strengthening programs that protect the public’s health, not undercutting them,” said Dr. John Balbus, director of the Environmental Defense health program. 

The traditional “new source review” program adopted in the 1977 Clean Air Act amendments has long required old, high-polluting sources to prevent pollution increases that would worsen unhealthy air quality in urban centers or adversely impact national parks.  The administration’s initiative, by contrast, is comprised of two broad actions that will allow virtually all pollution increases from old, high-polluting sources to go unregulated.  The EPA has finalized and significantly expanded a 1996 rulemaking proposal that was initially estimated to provide exemptions for 50% of the industrial sources covered by the program.  EPA has simultaneously proposed more far-reaching changes that, when implemented, will broadly exclude existing industrial sources from the long-standing requirement to modernize pollution controls when taking action that significantly increases pollution.

“By overlooking alternative markets for grain like processing plants, the Corps is knowingly exaggerating the amount of grain being shipped by barge along the Mississippi River,” Sweeney said. “Ignoring the effect of alternative grain markets on barge shipments is like ignoring the effects of gravity on space travel.”

Sweeney received a Service to America medal last night for creating an economic model that recognizes that barge demand is impacted by the presence of alternative grain markets.

In 1998, when Sweeney’s model revealed that longer locks were not economically justified for several decades, if ever, senior Corps officials ordered Sweeney to exaggerate the potential demand for barges, leading to his whistleblower disclosure. In 2001, the Army’s Inspector General (IG) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) both concluded that senior Corps officials ordered Sweeney to manipulate data.

Despite the findings by the NAS and IG, the Corps rejected Sweeney’s model in favor of discredited economic tools that are guaranteed to exaggerate future barge demand by assuming that alternative grain markets play no role in determining how much grain is shipped to New Orleans by barge.

“The Corps continues to cook the books in an attempt to justify longer locks,” said Environmental Defense water resources specialist Scott Faber. “Rather than pretending that alternate markets don’t have an impact on barge demand, the Corps is now pretending that alternative markets simply don’t exist at all.”

(13 November, 2002 — Boston)  Think your catalogs are printed on recycled paper?  Think again.  How about companies like L.L. Bean and Orvis that cater to nature enthusiasts?  Nope.  As the holiday season approaches, consumers will receive a massive amount of catalogs.  Last year, 17 billion catalogs were mailed to consumers; approximately 59 catalogs for every man, woman and child in the U.S.  A report issued today by Environmental Defense, Does Your Catalog Care?, reveals that catalog companies are still overwhelmingly choosing virgin over recycled paper.

“Many of these companies use images of nature to sell their products, while selling nature short in their paper choices,” said Victoria Mills, project manager at Environmental Defense.  “Shoppers might be surprised to learn that their favorite catalogs are not printed on recycled paper.”

The report, available at www.environmentaldefense.org/go/catalogs, asks consumers to call catalog companies and ask them to use recycled paper.  According to the report, if the entire catalog industry switched to paper with just 10% postconsumer recycled content, the savings in wood use alone would be enough to stretch a six-foot fence across the United States seven times. 

“Study after study has shown that consumers care deeply about the environment, and that they expect companies to be part of the solution to environmental problems,” said Mills.  “By choosing recycled paper, catalog companies can reduce their burden on the environment and honor their customers’ expectations.”

According to the report, recycled paper is widely available, competitively priced, and offers comparable performance to virgin alternatives. 

Seventy-four different catalogs were surveyed for the report, including J.C. Penney, Bloomingdale’s by Mail, Spiegel, Eddie Bauer, Lands’ End, L.L. Bean, Victoria’s Secret, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and J. Crew. Of the companies surveyed, only Norm Thompson Outfitters, Omaha Steaks, and Disney reported using recycled paper throughout the body of their catalogs.  Norm Thompson Outfitters partnered with Environmental Defense to make the switch from virgin to recycled paper in 2001.

(13 November 2002) Environmental Defense and several other organizations today announced the settlement of a lawsuit forcing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to protect more than 150 million people from harmful air pollution by implementing the national ozone (smog) public health standard established in 1997.  Since 1997, EPA has failed to put these standards into effect.  The settlement requires EPA to determine and publicly declare which areas of the country violate the 1997 standard by an April 2004 court-enforceable deadline.  To meet the April 2004 deadline, EPA and affected states nationwide will need to immediately take steps to evaluate air quality monitoring data and other information to determine which areas will be declared in violation of the standard. 

“EPA has strengthened the smog health standard — based on a body of compelling medical research — to better protect children, seniors, people with asthma and other vulnerable populations from serious respiratory ailments,” said Environmental Defense senior attorney Vickie Patton.  “This settlement means that folks on all sides of the issue will need to roll up their sleeves and work together to expand efforts to protect the public from the harmful health impacts of smog.”

The 1997 standard is designed to protect children, seniors, people with asthma, and other vulnerable populations against decreased lung function, respiratory ailments, increased hospital admissions and emergency room visits for respiratory causes, inflammation of the lungs and possible long-term lung damage.  In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected industry claims that EPA acted unlawfully in basing the standard solely on public health evidence.  EPA was required to declare which areas of the U.S. violate the standard more than two years ago.  The proposed settlement is subject to a 30-day public comment period before it can be finalized.

Maricopa County, Arizona has recently made progress toward achieving the long-standing 1-hour ozone health standard but is not in compliance with the new ozone health standard adopted in 1997.  The 1997 standard is 0.08 parts per million and compliance with the standard is based on a 3-year average of the fourth-highest daily maximum 8-hour ozone concentration.  EPA’s most recent quality assured data indicate that the county violates the 1997 standard.  See www.epa.gov/airtrends/data/AQupdate2001.pdf (table 4). 

At least two-thirds of all Californians—21,150,000 people in 22 counties across the state—live in areas not meeting the more protective ozone standard (www.epa.gov/airtrends/data/AQupdate2001.pdf).  Implementation of the more protective standard will achieve important public health benefits for Californians by: (1) requiring communities that already have high ozone levels to further reduce ozone-forming pollutants, and (2) requiring new communities, including cities throughout the San Joaquin Valley, to begin curbing ozone-forming pollutants.

Denver, Colorado has been in and out of compliance with the 1997 ozone health standard.   The standard is 0.08 parts per million and compliance with the standard is based on a 3-year average of the fourth-highest daily maximum 8-hour ozone concentration.  EPA data for 1998-2000 indicate that the Jefferson County monitor recorded violations of the health standard.  See www.epa.gov/oar/aqtrnd00/carboz00.html (table 3).  But EPA data for 1999-2001 indicate that all monitors in Denver were in compliance.  See www.epa.gov/airtrends/data/AQupdate2001.pdf (table 4).  The 13 ozone exceedances monitored in the summer of 2002, however, place Denver at serious risk of again violating the standard.  And, there were six exceedances of the health standard in the summer of 2002 at the Longs Peak Ranger Station monitor in Rocky Mountain National Park.  See www2.nature.nps.gov/ard/gas/exceed.htm

Harmful smog levels in the New York metropolitan region span several states.  EPA data indicates that violations of the 1997 ozone health standard have been monitored in six counties in Connecticut (Fairfield, Hartford, Middlesex, New Haven, New London and Tolland), 12 counties in New Jersey (Atlantic, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean and Passaic), and 11 in New York (Chautauqua, Dutchess, Erie, Jefferson, Niagara, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk, and Westchester).  See www.epa.gov/airtrends/data/AQupdate2001.pdf.  This estimate of the affected population is conservative, since a violation in a single county generally represents unhealthy exposure across many surrounding counties.

The smog levels in the south makes this region one of the most polluted in the country.  EPA’s most recent data indicates that violations of the ozone health standard have been monitored in 22 counties in North Carolina, 15 counties in Tennessee, 14 counties in Georgia, 13 counties in Kentucky, nine counties in South Carolina, and four counties in Alabama (www.epa.gov/airtrends/data/AQupdate2001.pdf ).  Collectively, this means that millions of children, seniors, people with asthma and other populations across the south are breathing smog levels that threaten their health. 

EPA’s most recent data indicates that violations of the ozone health standard have been monitored in 12 counties in Texas including:  Brazoria, Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Galveston, Gregg, Harris, Jefferson, Montgomery, Tarrant, and Travis (www.epa.gov/airtrends/data/AQupdate2001.pdf).    This estimate of the affected population is conservative, since a violation in a single county generally represents unhealthy exposure across a broader metropolitan area.