Keeping a clear focus on smoggy air
Chicagoans may feel a justifiable sense of pique that the federal government has just issued a new set of air-quality standards that only we among all the cities in America cannot meet. Either someone is out to get us - which doesn't seem likely - or we have a problem that seriously needs our attention.
And complicating matters, the federal Environmental Protection Agency can't tell us exactly what makes us different. Is it the number or type of cars we drive? The quality of our gasoline? It may be, the EPA says now, the location of just one of seven air-quality monitors.
Clearly, the situation bears more study. For, until we know what it is that distinguishes the chemical components of our air from those of, say, Los Angeles or New York City or Atlanta, it's impossible to know where to begin to address the problem.
Keep in mind, the EPA rule at issue involves one pollutant - nitrogen dioxide - out of many, and it applies to readings monitored in the course of an hour, not days or weeks, and only near roadways. Moreover, on the whole, Chicago-area air quality is better than that of L.A., New York, Atlanta and some other major cities - and is improving.
But also keep in mind that new ozone standards are coming that could push Chicago out of compliance. And, more to the point regarding nitrogen dioxide, research shows breathing the compound for as little as 30 minutes, as Robert McCoppin reported in our story on the subject Tuesday, can worsen asthma, increase respiratory illness and impair lung function.
That can hardly be a comforting statistic for commuters who would consider a 30-minute trip on the Chicago-area's tollways an unimaginable blessing.
McCoppin says EPA officials believe Chicago's noncompliant monitor for nitrogen dioxide is located near the Circle in downtown Chicago where major expressways cross, with often-congested traffic pouring in from the Kennedy, the Eisenhower and, not far away, the Stevenson. It may be, they say, that the situation is not so much that Cook County is the only noncompliant area in the nation with nitrogen dioxide standards but that the area has the one monitor with the worst reading in the nation.
But that doesn't negate the seriousness of things. If anything, the new rules draw attention to the complex chemical stew that makes up Chicago's smog-filled atmosphere and remind us of the need to control as carefully as we can the dangerous ingredients our cars, homes and industries spew out.
We may take comfort in the realization that Washington pollution bureaucrats are not out to get Cook County with unachievable regulations. But we still can't let up in our commitment to improving the quality of air we all breathe.