CBE and Public Health Groups to Sue EPA on Carbon Monoxide Standards

News Release

Public Health Groups to File Suit to Keep Children and Mothers Safe
from Carbon Monoxide Pollution

Bush Administration Dragging its Feet, Failing to Strengthen
Nationwide Clean Air Standards

For Immediate Release:
April 26, 2007

For More Information Contact:
Jeremy Nichols, Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, (303) 454-3370 Philip Huang, Communities for a Better Environment, (510) 302-0430 x17 Jesse Marquez, Coalition for a Safe Environment, (310) 834-1128 Martha Dina Arguello, Physicians for Social Responsibility-L.A., (310)
261-0073

Oakland, CA?Public health groups today put the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency on notice that they intend to take legal action to
protect clean air and strengthen carbon monoxide pollution standards.
Carbon monoxide is deadly at high levels and at low levels is linked
to low birth weights and other health problems.

?We all need the strongest protection possible from this poisonous
gas,? said Martha Dina Arguello of Physicians for Social
Responsibility-Los Angeles ?Sadly, current health standards allow our
children, mothers, and many more to be exposed to dangerous levels of
carbon monoxide across the country. By dragging its feet the Bush
Administration is showing a horrible disregard for the most vulnerable
people in this country, children, the poor and the elderly.?

Over 70% of all carbon monoxide comes from the burning of fossil fuels
and is spewed by smokestacks and tailpipes. Carbon monoxide pollution
contributes to cardiovascular problems, nervous system problems, and
developmental problems. It also reacts with sunlight to form smog and
contributes to climate change.

Carbon monoxide air quality standards were last revised in 1971, over
35 years ago. Since then, numerous studies have found that these
standards are woefully inadequate. Recent studies in particular have
found that carbon monoxide levels at 1.4 parts per million over a
three month period, or a trimester, are harmful to developing fetuses,
yet current standards allow carbon monoxide to reach as high as 9
parts per million over an 8-hour period. There are currently no
standards limiting long-term exposure to carbon monoxide and no
standards limiting carbon monoxide to 1.4 parts per million.

?The evidence is both alarming and clear, and the EPA has no excuse
for delaying action,? said Philip Huang with Communities for a Better
Environment. ?Poor people and people of color suffer most from
chronic and acute effects of carbon monoxide, which is emitted by the
refineries and power plants located in our communities, as well as the
congested highways in our backyards.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has established standards for
carbon monoxide, which the Clean Air Act requires be set at a level
that protects human health and welfare. They must also be reviewed
every five years to determine if they need to be strengthened.
Unfortunately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not
completed a review of carbon monoxide standards since August of 1994,
nearly 13 years ago.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency?s failure to strengthen
carbon monoxide standards is a danger to public health. For example:

? A 2001 study found a correlation between elevated levels of carbon
monoxide and low birth weight (Mildred Maisonet, et al., "Relation
Between Ambient Air Pollution and Low Birth Weight in the Northeastern
United States," Environmental Health Perspectives Vol. 109, Supp. 3,
pp. 351-356, 353 (June 2001). The study found that carbon monoxide
levels greater than 1.4 parts per million lead to an increased risk of
low birth weight among infants;

? A 2005 study of births between 1975 and 1987 found a correlation
between decreased birth weight and carbon monoxide exposure (Muhammad
T. Salam, et al., "Birth Outcomes and Prenatal Exposure to Ozone,
Carbon Monoxide and Particulate Matter: Results from the Children's
Health Study," 113 Environmental Health Perspectives 1638, 1641 (Nov.
2005). The study found a correlation between low birth weight and
carbon monoxide exposure at ambient levels greater than 1.4 parts per
million.

Under the Clean Air Act, citizens can hold the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency accountable to clean air and public health by filing
suit in federal court. Today?s notice puts the agency on alert that
after 60 days, public health groups may file suit if a review of
carbon monoxide standards is not completed to ensure the protection of
human health.

The groups joining the notice to strengthen carbon monoxide standards
include Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action (Denver, CO), Communities for
a Better Environment (Oakland and Huntington Park, CA), Coalition for
a Safe Environment (Wilmington, CA), and Physicians for Social
Responsibility-Los Angeles. The notice of intent to file suit is
online at http://www.ourcleanair.org/uploads/CO_NOI.pdf.

More Information on Carbon Monoxide Ambient Air Quality Standards:

? Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards are established to
ensure protection of human health. Primary ambient air quality
standards for carbon monoxide are set at an 8-hour average of 9 parts
per million and a 1-hour average of 35 parts per million;

? These carbon monoxide standards were first adopted in 1971;

? Two sections of the Clean Air Act govern the establishment and
revision of air quality standards. Section 108 (42 U.S.C. § 7408)
requires the Environmental Protection Agency to identify pollutants
that ?may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health and
welfare? and to issue air quality criteria for those pollutants.
Section 109 (42 U.S.C. § 7409) requires the EPA to promulgate primary
and secondary ambient air quality standards for pollutants identified
under section 108. Primary standards must be sufficient to protect
the public health, while secondary standards must safeguard the public
welfare. 42 U.S.C. § 7409(b).

? Section 109 further requires that ?at five year intervals? the EPA
?shall complete a thorough review of the criteria published under
[section 108] and the national ambient air quality standards
promulgated under this section and shall make such revisions in such
criteria and standards and promulgate such new standards as may be
appropriate.? 42 U.S.C. § 7409(d)(1). Despite this clear
requirement, it has been nearly seven years since EPA last completed
such a review to update the air quality criteria and NAAQS for carbon
monoxide.

? Under the Clean Air Act, citizens have the right to file suit
against the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce deadlines and
protect clean air.

For more information about the public health and environmental justice
groups, see http://www.ourcleanair.org, http://www.cbecal.org, http://www.psrla.org, and
http://www.coalitionfase.org.

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