May 25, 2016
Clearing the air in St. Louis Learn & Play
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Crunchy, savory summertime
Community Voices
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By Rodrick K. Burton
Feature Section
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Home & Garden Photo by Sara Hardin A cyclist takes advantage of a warm spring day in Forest Park. The St. Louis area ranks as the 18th most polluted metropolitan area in the nation for ozone pollution.
Ozone pollution lands region on list as 18th most polluted metropolitan area in the country By Sara Hardin The American Lung Association’s latest State of the Air Report, released April 20, named the St. Louis area as the 18th most polluted metropolitan area in the nation for ozone pollution. With the approach of the first summer season since the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) strengthened National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), the Clean Air partnership is working hard to increase awareness and assist residents in reducing the emissions that lead to air pollution. “The same recommendations that we’ve been giving forever still apply,” said Susannah Fuchs, Director of the Clean Air Partnership with the American Lung Association in Missouri. “Making different choices about your transportation is important. If you can use transit, whether it’s by bus or the Metrolink, your decision makes a big difference in taking single occupancy vehicles off the road. You can carpool or vanpool, maybe you can flextime or telecommute. Anything related to trans-
portation and reducing vehicles on the road during the high commute times – the times when you would be idling instead of driving – makes a huge difference. That’s huge for all metro areas, not just here in St. Louis.” The stricter NAAQS were released by the EPA on Oct. 1, 2015 after extensive scientific evidence was found about the effects of ozone on public health and welfare. The standards were updated with particularly at-risk groups in mind, such as children, older adults, those who suffer from lung diseases such as asthma, and those who are active outdoors. Although the effects of ozone pollution may not be immediately evident to St. Louis residents, there are serious implications if measures are not taken in an attempt to reduce harmful emissions. “People are really not as aware of the pollution problems in St. Louis as you think they would be,” said Fuchs. “Usually you can’t see it here. We don’t have as much of a problem with the visible
pollution as we do with ozone pollution, which you can’t see or smell. People may not even know that we have a pollution problem here in the metro area. We have See CLEARING THE AIR page 2
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Constuction in Maryland Heights
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