Durham Bulls Fans Help Lead Off Triangle Ozone Action Program
DURHAM -- Baseball fans can help strike out smog by heading out to the ballpark Wednesday for "North Carolina Air Awareness Day" at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
Fans who come to see the Bulls play the Richmond Braves will receive free handouts about air pollution, its causes and things they can do to prevent it. State Environment Secretary Wayne McDevitt and Transportation Secretary Norris Tolson will lead off the opening event for the Triangle Air Awareness Program starting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, just before the Bulls game.
The Air Awareness Program is a voluntary effort that helped reduce ozone in Charlotte and the Triad in 1997 and is being expanded to the Triangle this year. The state Division of Air Quality is operating the Triangle program with the Triangle J Council of Governments. The program, begun to help limit ozone levels in the state's major metropolitan areas, ran for its first full "ozone season" last summer in cooperation with local air- pollution control agencies and business leaders in Mecklenburg and Forsyth counties.
Ozone, a highly reactive form of oxygen, is the primary pollutant in smog. It can be unhealthful to breathe, particularly among children, the elderly and people with asthma or other respiratory problems. Ozone also can damage plants and reduce crop yields. High ozone levels generally occur on hot sunny days with stagnant air, when pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons "cook" in the atmosphere.
The Air Awareness Program helps curb smog levels through pollution forecasts, media alerts and notifications to participating businesses. Participants voluntarily agree to help reduce emissions of smog-forming pollutants on high ozone days. For instance, businesses encourage or offer incentives to their employees to car-pool, ride buses to work, eat lunch at their offices, or take other actions that reduce driving.
Air Awareness organizers will distribute free water bottles, brochures and coloring books about air pollution to people who attend the opening of the Triangle program at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Fans also can see special exhibits relating to air quality on the stadium's second floor concourse. Exhibitors include the N.C. Division of Air Quality, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Triangle Transit Authority, the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness, UNC Health Care, and Carolina Power & Light Co.
State air quality officials believe the Air Awareness Program could have been a factor in limiting smog levels in the Charlotte and Winston-Salem metropolitan areas last summer. Neither city had ozone levels that topped the federal standard in 1997, despite exceedances at several monitoring stations in the state.
No areas in North Carolina currently violate federal clean air standards, but that will change under a new ozone standard that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopted last summer. The new ozone standard is much more restrictive, and state air quality officials estimate that more than half of the state's residents live in counties that exceed the standard. Air quality officials hope the Air Awareness Program will help the state comply with the new ozone standard and protect public health and environment.
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Date posted: April 27
Contact: Tom Mather (919) 715-7408
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