1995 may be high-ozone year in U.S., early data indicate

摘要

Preliminary data for the early summer show ozone air pollution jumped this year, and by midsummer about 50 U.S. cities had already exceeded EPA ozone air quality standards. The data could signal an end to the past few years of improving air quality and a return to ozone nonattainment status for several urban areas that have recently met air standards. The data were gathered at state monitoring sites through late July and mid-August and are considered preliminary, pending EPA review, according to David Cole, an EPA environmental scientist. He acknowledged, however, that the preliminary data "looked pretty bleak" for Texas, Chicago, parts of the Midwest, and other areas but appeared to be better than data for the summer of 1988, one of the worst ozone years in recent times.