In a strongly worded letter to the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and over twenty colleagues called on the agency to adopt its own expert panel’s strongest recommended limits on smog pollution.

    “The EPA—whose first priority must be to protect public health—needs to listen to the sound science and expert advice of its own advisory panel which is calling for the smog standard to be ‘substantially reduced.’ The agency has the responsibility to strengthen air quality standards to best protect all Americans, especially those in the most high-risk populations such as children, people with lung disease and the elderly,” said U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), author of the letter that twenty-one Members of Congress cosigned and sent to EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson.

    Earlier this year, the EPA proposed lowering the eight hour average standard for ozone pollution limits from where it currently stands at .084 parts per million (ppm) to .074 ppm.

    However, the EPA’s panel of scientific advisors, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), stated that level is not low enough. Stating that there is “no scientific justification” for the current level, CASAC recommended—based on scientific data—that the eight hour average standard for ozone pollution limits be set between .060 to .070 ppm when the agency issues its final standard for smog pollution in March 2008. 

    Smith strongly urged Administrator Johnson to set a final standard that reflects the EPA’s expert advisors’ recommendations.

    “There is absolutely no reason why smog pollution limits of no more than .070 ppm cannot be attained. In fact, the EPA should be pushing polluters to reach the lowest limit recommended by the agency’s independent scientific advisors,” Smith said. “When it comes to public health, there should be no shortcuts.”

    Leading health organizations including the American Lung Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association agree that the standard must be placed at the lower end of the .060 to .070 ppm range to adequately protect the most at-risk populations such as children, people with lung disease and the elderly.

    In their letter, Smith and his colleagues cite the wealth of scientific data that connects air pollution to numerous diseases and conditions as evidence that the current level does not adequately protect public health.

    “Scientists have linked exposure to smog pollution with asthma attacks, lung damage, aggravated chronic lung disease, and premature death. Children, people with lung disease and the elderly are among the most susceptible to smog pollution, but even healthy adults display negative health effects when exposed to levels of ozone below the current standard of .080 ppm,” the Smith-authored letter states.

    The Sierra Club, Earthjustice, the American Lung Association, the American Thoracic Society and the American Medical Association are among the advocacy groups who are also calling on the EPA to adopt the strongest air quality protections.