Pinedale Online!
www.PinedaleOnline.com
www.Pinedale.com

Pinedale on the Web!
Pinedale, Wyoming

Home | Calendar of Events | Photo Gallery | Local Businesses |

Pinedale Online > News > December 2008 > NOx smog levels lowered in Eastern United States
NOx smog levels lowered in Eastern United States
by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
December 17, 2008

(Washington, D.C) - More than 102 million Americans are breathing cleaner air due to decreases in smog-forming emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) according to the NOx Budget Trading Program annual report. The 2007 summertime NOx emissions from power plants and industrial sources were down by 60 percent compared to 2000 levels and 74 percent below 1990 levels in 20 eastern states and the District of Columbia.

The program helped improve air quality in 95 percent of nonattainment areas in the east, with 64 percent of these areas now below the ozone standard. Some of the report highlights show that:

• the largest NOx emission reductions occurred in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia, and Kentucky; and

• the reduction of NOx – a precursor to ground-level ozone, or smog – has helped reduce ozone concentrations an average of 10 percent in the eastern part of the country since the start of the program in 2003.

The program is a market-based cap and trade partnership between federal and state governments to reduce the regional transport of NOx during the ozone season. The program provides facilities flexibility to choose their control options including installing control technologies, optimizing existing controls, and switching fuels. Stringent monitoring, reporting and automatic penalties have led to a compliance rate of over 99 percent.

EPA, state and local programs have contributed to the decrease in NOx and ozone levels since 1990. The program has contributed the most to improvements in ozone levels since 2003.

To view the report visit: http://www.epa.gov/airmarkets/progress/nbp07.html


Pinedale Online > News > December 2008 > NOx smog levels lowered in Eastern United States

Pinedale Online!
Pinedale Online! PO Box 2250, Pinedale, WY 82941
Phone: (307) 360-7689 or (307) 276-5699, Fax: (307) 276-5414

Office Outlet in Pinedale, 43 S. Sublette
E-mail:support@pinedaleonline.com

Copyright © 2008 Pinedale Online. All rights reserved.
Pictures and content cannot be used in whole or part without permission.