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POOR AIR QUALITY PREDICTED FOR MAJOR PORTIONS OF NEW ENGLAND

Release Date: 08/06/1998
Contact Information: Peyton Fleming, EPA Press Office (617-918-1008)

BOSTON -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's New England Office expects unhealthy air quality with elevated levels of ground-level ozone to occur today in southern Connecticut and eastern Massachusetts and tomorrow in western and southwestern Connecticut, including Hartford, western and northeastern Massachusetts including the metropolitan Boston area, and in coastal New Hampshire and Maine. Unhealthy air quality was also experienced in many portions of New England yesterday.

Air quality is considered to be unhealthy when it exceeds EPA's new and more-stringent standard of .08 parts per million averaged over an eight-hour period. New England has exceeded this standard 19 days this spring and summer.V

"It is unfortunate that the balmy days of summer still bring unhealthy air quality," said John P. DeVillars, administrator of the EPA's New England Office. "We're asking New Englanders to let the lawn grow for a couple of days and to leave the car in the garage in favor of public transportation or other means of travel."

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 groups that are particularly sensitive to ozone include children who are active outdoors, outdoor workers, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma.

The EPA recommends that sensitive individuals limit outdoor activities and refrain from strenuous exercise on days when air quality is predicted to be unhealthy.

In an effort to better inform New Englanders about "real-time" ozone levels, the EPA has expanded its computerized ozone mapping system, which shows real-time images of ground-level ozone levels throughout the Midwest and Northeast. The color ozone map is available on the EPA's Wide Web information page on ozone and air pollution at 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 in the State of Connecticut, as well as controls on fossil fuel-fired power plants and industrial boilers.