MEDIA ADVISORY -- PRESS BRIEFING SCHEDULED ON TRIAD CLEAR THE AIR CAMPAIGN
RALEIGH -- State and local air quality officials have scheduled a press briefing Tuesday on the Triad’s Clear the Air Campaign for reducing ozone smog.
The briefing will be held 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Guilford County Department of Health in Greensboro. At the briefing, reporters and meteorologists can obtain information on:
How the ozone control program works and examples from other areas.
Procedures for forecasting ozone levels and calling Ozone Action Days and health alerts.
Health and environmental hazards posed by high ozone levels.
Plans to produce print and video maps of ozone levels for newspapers and television stations.
The state Division of Air Quality is operating the Clear the Air Campaign with the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, the Forsyth County Environmental Affairs Departmen, and the Greensboro Department of Health. The program, begun in 1996 to help limit ozone levels in some of 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 Forsyth, Mecklenburg and surrounding counties. It is being expanded to the Triangle and a broader portion of the Triad this year.
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 volatile organic compounds “cook” in the atmosphere.
The Clear the Air Campaign is part of the N.C. Air Awareness Program, which aims to curb ozone 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, participants 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.
State air quality officials believe the Air Awareness Program could have been a key factor in limiting ozone 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.
Although no areas in North Carolina currently violate federal clean air standards, that could change under a new ozone standard that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopted in July 1997. 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 are likely to exceed the standard. Air quality officials hope the Air Awareness Program will help the state comply with the new ozone standard.
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Date Posted: April 13
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