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POOR AIR QUALITY PREDICTED FOR WEDNESDAY

Release Date: 07/21/1998
Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, EPA Press Office, 617.565.4592

BOSTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency warns New Englanders that with continued high temperatures predicted for Wednesday, air quality is expected to be unhealthy with elevated levels of ground-level ozone (smog) to occur in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, and along the Maine and New Hampshire coastline.

Air quality is considered to be unhealthy when it exceeds EPA's new, more-stringent standard of .08 parts per million averaged over an eight-hour period. New England has exceeded this standard 14 days this spring and summer.

Ground-level ozone is a respiratory irritant that causes health problems by damaging lung tissue and reducing lung function. Exposure to ground-level ozone causes coughing, headaches, nausea, and may cause premature aging of the lung. Poor air quality can affect everyone, but those particularly sensitive to ozone include children who are active outdoors, outdoor workers, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma. EPA recommends that sensitive individuals limit outdoor activities and refrain from strenuous exercise on days when air quality is predicted to be unhealthy.

To view timely ozone data and color ozone maps on the world wide web for the Northeast and Midwest, type the following address: www.epa.gov/region01/oms.

Ground-level ozone is formed when volatile organic compounds and oxides of nitrogen interact in the presence of sunlight. Sources which contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone include: automobiles, trucks and buses; large industry and combustion sources such as electric utilities; small industry such as gasoline dispensing facilities and print shops; consumer products such as paints and cleaners; and off-road engines such as aircraft, locomotives, construction equipment and lawn and garden equipment.

The Clean Air Act requires that all New England states plan for further control of sources of ozone-causing pollutants. Many controls on automobiles, industrial and smaller facilities such as gasoline service stations are currently being implemented. Additional controls could include improved automobile inspection programs, such as the program recently started Connecticut, as well as controls on fossil fuel-fired power plants and industrial boilers.

New Englanders can help prevent bad air quality days through a variety of activities:

• Since exhaust from automobiles is a major contributor to ground-level ozone, use public transportation, bike or walk where possible;
• When it's imperative to drive, car pool and plan trips carefully to avoid excess driving;
• Refuel your vehicle at night to reduce the escape of gasoline vapors during the hottest times of the day;
• Keep your vehicle well maintained;
• Fossil-fuel fired electricity generation stations emit large quantities of air pollutants which form smog. So, using less electricity helps reduce smog.
• Avoiding the use of gasoline powered engines, such as lawn mowers, chain saws, leaf blowers on predicted unhealthy air days.