U.S.proposes tighter ozone standards

As the standards made in 1997 are too weak to protect people, the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed tighter standards for ozone pollution, accoreding to the agency Thursday.

 "Ozone's impacts are more significant than we previously thought," EPA administrator Stephen Johnson said during a conference call with reporters.

The environment agency proposed the new rules for ground-level ozone (damaging pollution also known as smog that is spawned by motor vehicle exhaust, power plants, gasoline vapors and chemical solvents) by suggesting an acceptable range of 70 to 75 parts per billion over any eight-hour period.

It's the agency's first new recommendation since 1997 for ground-level ozone. If finalized, the new standards would roughly triple the number of U.S. counties out of compliance with federal air pollution regulations, though business groups have said meeting the new limits could cost tens of billions of dollars.

Johnson answered the agency will formally take comments from business and industry groups that strongly believed the current standards should not be changed.

However, the Union of Concerned Scientists said the new standards fall short of the standards recommended by the EPA's own scientific experts and should be lowered even farther, while the National Association of Manufacturers called for maintaining the current rules.

The union said the proposed standards could allow the agency to avoid tightening the rules altogether, despite unanimous agreement from its own scientists and science advisers that the current standards are not safe.
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