Environmental Awareness Blog

EPA to Improve Ozone Standards

The US Environmental Protection Agency is proposing the strictest health standards to date for smog. Smog, also known as ground-level ozone, is linked to a number of serious health problems, ranging from aggravation of asthma to increased risk of premature death in people with heart or lung disease. Ozone can even harm healthy people who work and play outdoors. The EPA is proposing to replace the standards set by the previous administration, which many believe were not protective enough of human health.

Ozone pollution is created when chemicals from cars, power plants, and factories mix with sunlight. That's why ozone tends to be higher in sunnier climates or during hot weather. It is a main part of smog, that brownish-yellow haze sometimes seen hanging over cities on the horizon.

Ozone in the upper atmosphere is protective of the environment by blocking UV light.  Too much ozone at the ground level may lead to smog with negative environmental and health effects.

Using the best science to strengthen these standards is a long overdue action that will help millions of Americans breathe easier and live healthier.  The EPA is proposing to set the primary standard, which protects public health, at a level between 0.060 and 0.070 parts per million (ppm) measured over eight hours. The last standard was set in 2008 and was 0.075.

Turning Trash into Gas

About 500 Waste Management trucks in San Francisco, California are rumbling down city streets using clean fuel made from a dirty source: garbage.

The fuel is derived from rotting refuse that San Francisco and Oakland residents and businesses have been discarding in the nearby landfill in Livermore.  Since November, the methane gas created by decaying trash has been sucked into tubes and sent into an innovative facility that purifies and transforms it into liquefied natural gas.

In a state that has passed the most stringent greenhouse gas reduction goals in the United States, the climate change benefits of this plant are twofold — methane from the trash heap is captured before entering the environment and use of the fuel produces less carbon dioxide than conventional gasoline.

Although San Francisco would eventually like to reach zero waste by 2030, this is a great solution in the meantime to decrease the release harmful gases to the atmosphere. Be on the look out for more Waste Management facilities using this innovative technology in Los Angeles and Houston.