L.A. Tops Ozone List, Rates 2nd in Carbon Monoxide

Los Angeles led a list of 62 cities violating the federal ozone pollution standard for the years 1984-86 and was No. 2--behind Denver--on a list of 65 violating the carbon monoxide limit during the period, the Environmental Protection Agency said today.

Los Angeles, the perennial ozone pollution leader, exceeded the ozone limit of 0.12 parts per million almost by a factor of three, to 0.35 parts per million, on an average of 154 days each year in 1984-86.

It was followed by San Diego, with 0.22 ppm on about 11 days, and then by Houston and New York with 0.20 ppm on about 19 days. Next on the list were Greater Connecticut; Providence, R.I.; Sacramento; Atlantic City, N.J.; Chicago, and Philadelphia.

The figures still reflect an improvement over the EPA’s previous report, covering the years 1983-85, when 76 cities violated the ozone standard and 81 violated the carbon monoxide standard, EPA spokesman Chris Rice said.

Rice said the EPA’s “emphasis is normally much more on ozone. We believe the carbon monoxide problem is only a long-term problem for a few cities.”

Deadline of Dec. 31

The Clean Air Act requires that all areas of the country reach the standards by Dec. 31, and EPA will use data from 1985-87 in judging which have complied, he said.

At the end of September, the EPA will announce its post-1987 policy for areas not meeting the standards, Rice said.

Some areas have virtually no chance of meeting the standards, no matter what they do between now and the end of the year, he said.

“If you took every car off the streets of Los Angeles, they still couldn’t meet it,” Rice said. “There’s a 70% reduction needed (in ozone pollution). Taking the cars off would only be a 50% or 55% reduction.”

Denver edged out the Los Angeles-Long Beach area for the top of the list for carbon monoxide pollution. Los Angeles-Long Beach was second, followed by Las Vegas; New York; Fairbanks, Alaska; Provo-Orem, Utah; Sacramento; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Reno, and Albuquerque, N.M.