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Pittsburgh’s Air OK, EPA Says

Release Date: 10/3/2001
Contact Information: David Sternberg, (215) 814-5548

David Sternberg, (215) 814-5548

PHILADELPHIA - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it is redesignating the Pittsburgh area to attainment of the one-hour air quality standard for ozone smog. The area is comprised of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties and has a population of more than 2.4 million.

“This redesignation is an important milestone in Western Pennsylvania’s progress towards cleaner air. Attainment of air quality standards makes a region healthier, improves the business climate, and tells the world that this community is doing what it takes to meet current air quality standards,” said EPA Administrator Christie Whitman.

The Pittsburgh area’s redesignation resulted from having no more than three exceedances of air quality standards at a single monitor during the past three years. Western Pennsylvania monitoring produced no violations from 1998-2001.

In today’s redesignation, EPA also approved the maintenance plan submitted by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to prevent the Pittsburgh area from backsliding into nonattainment.

In order for an area to be redesignated, the improvement in air quality must be due to permanent and enforceable pollution reductions resulting from state programs. Today’s announcement indicates the success of local pollution control programs, including controls on industry and utilities, the enhanced automobile emissions test, and the cleaner low-volatility summer gasoline program.

Pittsburgh also has an active ozone action partnership program led by business and industry to curtail ozone-generating activities such as daytime lawn mowing, use of oil paints, and unnecessary car trips during hot weather.

In addition to making the air measurably cleaner, all the steps taken by Western Pennsylvania citizens, businesses and governments will help the region meet more stringent health-based air quality standards in the future.

Ground level ozone forms when volatile organic compounds combine with oxides of nitrogen in the presence of heat and sunlight. Ozone smog threatens public health during hot summer months. Studies show that ozone smog pollution is associated with 10-20 percent of all of the summertime respiratory-related hospital admissions.

Long-term exposures to ozone smog can cause repeated inflammation of the lung, impairment of lung defense mechanisms, and irreversible changes in lung structure, which could lead to premature aging of the lungs and/or chronic respiratory illnesses such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Repeated exposure to ozone can make people more susceptible to respiratory infection and lung inflammation, and can aggravate pre-existing respiratory diseases, such as asthma. Children are most at risk from exposure to ozone because they are active outside, playing and exercising during the summertime when ozone levels are at their highest.