Transportation Sector Pollution Is A Leading Reason for

Poor Air Quality Across the Country

Why Congress Must Maintain Its Commitment To Reducing Smog from Cars and Trucks

April 16, 2004

Congress is currently debating a massive federal transportation law, providing lawmakers with a critical opportunity to protect public health by rejecting efforts to weaken the Clean Air Act and increasing federal funding for transportation programs intended to improve air quality.  The $318-billion Senate transportation bill would eliminate important transportation air quality protections, forcing people living in areas with significant motor vehicle emissions to breathe dirtier air.  This flies in the face of the analysis below of EPA’s latest pollution data, which shows that cars and trucks emissions are the largest source of smog-forming pollutants in many of the areas newly designated by EPA as out of attainment with the new federal eight-hour ozone standard.[1] 

Transportation is a Major Source of Dirty Smog Pollutants

Smog remains a persistent public health threat with 120 million Americans living in areas that violate minimum air pollution standards.  Millions of Americans every year suffer from asthma attacks, lung cancer, heart disease, and tens of thousands of premature deaths due in part to smog. EPA is implementing a more protective eight-hour ozone standard requiring areas with persistent smog to adopt measures to reduce ozone-forming pollutants-- nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). One hundred and twenty-six counties will enter nonattainment status for the first time in 2005.[2]

More Areas Now Struggling with Pollution from Cars and Trucks

NRDC and STPP analysis of EPA’s most recent emissions data for the 126 counties in 18 states that EPA designated yesterday as “new entrants” into nonattainment under the eight-hour ozone standard reveals that more than 50 percent of total ozone-precursor pollution is emitted by cars and trucks in nearly a quarter (30) of the counties and more than 40 percent of the total ozone-precursor pollution is emitted by cars and trucks in 56 percent (71) of the counties.[3]

More than half of the areas entering nonattainment status for the first time receive the lion’s share of their smog-forming pollutants from the transportation sector. Cars and trucks contribute 35 percent of the total smog-forming pollutants in those counties, more than power plants and factories or area sources such as dry cleaners and small businesses, which account for 29 percent and 24 percent respectively (figure 1). In addition to local air quality impacts, the transport of smog-forming pollutants is a pervasive problem in many areas such as the Northeast and Midwest . The impact of unchecked transportation sector pollution is not just a county but a regional problem.

The top twenty counties in which the transportation sector is responsible for more than 50 percent of all ozone-precursor emissions are part of some of the largest metropolitan areas across the country, including Phoenix, Washington D.C., San Antonio, Dallas – Fort Worth, and Atlanta (figure 2).

Transportation Bill Should Not Undermine The Road To Cleaner Air

The recently passed House and Senate transportation bills will soon be reconciled in Conference Committee, presenting lawmakers with a critical opportunity to protect public health by maintaining clean air laws that require that the long-term air quality impacts of transportation projects are evaluated.  Lawmakers should also seek to increase funding for the popular Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement program (CMAQ), which provides federal transportation funds for projects that reduce air pollution.

Appendix Document

1. Figure 3: Complete List of Mobile Source Emissions in the 126 Counties and 18 States Recommended for Nonattainment of the Eight-Hour Ozone Standard

Analysts:

Deron Lovaas, Deputy Director of Smart Growth and Transportation, Natural Resources Defense Council or

Michelle Ernst, Senior Analyst, Surface Transportation Policy Project

(202) 289-2384, dlovaas@nrdc.org § (212) 268-7474, mernst@transact.org

The Natural Resources Defense Council’s Ann Bordetsky, John Gardner Fellow, Clean Air Program,

and Laura Bruce, Smart Growth Program also contributed to this analysis.