The quality of air that residents of the tri-state area breathe does not meet federal standards. This is the conclusion of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report published last week. Experts at the federal agency warned 31 governors about the ozone levels – the substance capable of causing acute respiratory diseases (especially in the summer months) and the seriously deteriorating health of asthmatics – that in their states exceeds accepted standards.
The EPA found the most alarming situation on the east coast states of New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. As far as New York is concerned, the ozone content in the air in all five New York boroughs, Long Island, and counties located northwest of the Big Apple, all exceed permissible standards.
The unfavorable situation from an ecological point of view, observed in the greater New York area (parts of New Jersey and Connecticut are included in this region), can be explained not so much by local, as environmental factors. Yes, the industries located in the region such as power plants, as well as motor vehicles contribute to environmental pollution. Addionally, the wind carries chemically dangerous substances from western American states and Canada, which settle in the east coast atmosphere, thus contributing to local pollution.
Although all this is not news to officials in Washington, the necessary measures to correct this have not been taken.
"I have personally, repeatedly brought to the attention of Bush administration officials the ecological situation in my state,” complained New Jersey Governor James McGreevey. “I have not been able to get anything out of them. It is well known to them how harmful the toxic chemicals are that reach us carried by the winds from the mid-western states. The White House was obligated to take appropriate measures, but instead it didn’t even raise a finger."
New York Governor George Pataki also expressed his feelings on the matter, although not nearly as irritably. This is understandable. First of all, Pataki, a fellow Republican, will not outright scold President Bush and his administration; second, in case Bush wins in November, Pataki hopes to get a cabinet-level position in the administration. Therefore, without mentioning the president’s name, Pataki harshly criticized Bush’s subordinates for failing to convince the mid-western state authorities to take measures to decrease the amounts of harmful substances in the atmosphere.
But what is Washington to do now, after the publication of the EPA report? Jenny Kenny, EPA regional director for New York and New Jersey, stated that her department’s efforts will be directed toward a strict implementation of new standards to reduce the quantity of dangerous chemical substances in the atmosphere, such as nitrogen and sulfur dioxide – the most prevalent elements transferred to the east coast from the Midwest by wind.
However, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut authorities will also need to take necessary measures to reduce the ozone levels in their respective states to tolerable levels. The first step will be to issue orders stiffening the requirements for automobile emission inspections. Furthermore, in the summer months motorists will have to use ecologically “cleaner” gasoline, which is more expensive than normal gasoline. Most likely, it will be necessary to part with these hopes.
If state and municipal authorities refuse to carry out EPA orders, they are threatened with severe sanctions: the denial of federal subsidies for a range of transportation projects, also obtaining permission to build various industrial units may become nearly impossible.
As far as the EPA requirements to decrease sulfur dioxide and nitrogen levels in the air, about which Ms. Kenny speaks, state and municipal authorities’ action plans must be presented to Washington no later than 2007. Experts indicate, however, that their implementation will not be mandated for seven years.
According to David Mackintosh, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council – a nature conservation organization – the EPA administration can already help the east coast states.
American scientists have at their disposal technologies capable of checking levels of produced air pollution. This, however, would not serve the industrial objectives of the mid-west. The Bush administration has taken no noticeable action in this direction so far.
