Contacts:
Andrew Weisser, (818) 703-6444
aweisser@earthlink.net
or your local American Lung Association
at (800) LUNG-USA. www.californialung.org

Statement of Bonnie Holmes-Gen
Assistant V.P., Government Relations
American Lung Association of California

RE: "Re-writing The Rules, Year-End Report 2002; The Bush Administration’s Assault on the Environment" By Natural Resources Defense Council

California’s trailblazing air quality laws and programs are under threat today because of the Bush Administration’s recent actions to weaken federal air programs. The Administration has launched a series of assaults on core elements of our federal air quality laws and regulations that reward polluters at the expense of public health, and that elevate cost considerations over good science. The actions by Bush Administration have serious implications for California.

What are some of these assaults? The EPA roll-back of requirements on industry to install "state of the art" pollution control technology (called "New Source Review) on major sources; the EPA’s current proposal to revoke the federal 1 hour ozone standard; the EPA’s decision to join the auto industry’s legal fight against California’s ground-breaking zero emission vehicle program; and the Administration’s proposed legislation to delay attainment of clean air standards by at least 10 years called the "Clear Skies Proposal."

It is important for the public to understand that actions already taken by federal EPA will directly affect public health for the 175 million Americans that live in areas violating health-based air quality standards. Fewer controls on industry will mean more air pollution, more asthma attacks, more respiratory illnesses; more hospital visits and school absences and more premature deaths.

American Lung Association President and Chief Executive Officer, John Kirkwood recently stated, "Relaxing air pollution control rules applicable to 18,000 industrial pollution sources defies basic principles of common sense and good government."

Federal EPA’s relaxation in controls could undermine California’s highly effective technology-based pollution control programs for industrial sources and will make it much more difficult to achieve state and federal clean air standards.

It is astonishing to note that the federal rollback of air quality protections is occurring at a time when scientific knowledge of air pollution and health impacts is greatly expanding. Recent studies have provided a fuller understanding of how air pollution harms the lungs of everyone in polluted areas, but especially children. Children in polluted areas miss more school days, experience higher rates of asthma, and show a slow-down in lung growth. Recent studies have also shown that air pollution may be causing new asthma cases in addition to worsening asthma attacks.

Over 90% of Californians live in areas with unhealthy air. For the third straight year, the ALA annual "State of The Air" Report found the top four most ozone polluted metropolitan areas in the country were in California (Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange, Bakersfield, Fresno, and Visalia-Tulare-Porterville). It is imperative that California retains its leadership in air pollution control. The Bush Administration’s actions to reduce obligations on polluters go in the wrong direction and place California’s leadership position in peril.