To the Editor, Macon Telegraph, July 18, 2017
Clean air attack
In the middle of the summer ozone season, as we are entering the months where ozone is highest, the U.S. House of Representatives may vote soon on H.R. 806, the “Smoggy Skies Act,” a harmful bill that would delay life-saving ozone standards.
Ground-level ozone pollution, or smog, is dangerous. Many Americans are especially vulnerable to ozone, such as the 1 in 10 Georgia children and the 1 in 12 Georgia adults with asthma. Two weeks ago, the New England Journal of Medicine published new research showing ozone is dangerous at levels far below the current standard.
H.R. 806 deserves the name “Smoggy Skies Act.” It would delay ozone protections for years and permanently weaken one of the nation’s strongest public health laws, the Clean Air Act. This bill would make it harder to protect people from ozone induced asthma attacks, emergency room visits and premature deaths. In light of recent evidence, we should be strengthening the Clean Air Act, not weakening it.
Thanks to the Clean Air Act, we have made great progress in cleaning up ozone and other harmful pollutants. Still, millions of Americans live where the air is unhealthy to breathe and, literally, can threaten their lives. Weakening their protection is simply wrong.
Anne Mellinger-Birdsong, M.D.,
Director, Mothers and Others for Clean Air
Smyrna
M&O letters also ran in the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer on July 12, 2017, the Augusta Chronicle on September 9, 2017 and in the Marietta Daily Journal on September 10, 2017.
(Updated September, 2017)
