The air in the Atlanta area has met a key cleanliness standard for the first time since 1978, government officials announced Thursday.
ATLANTA — The air in the Atlanta area has met a key cleanliness standard for the first time since 1978, government officials announced Thursday.
The 13-county area was found in compliance with standards that specify how polluted air can be during any one-hour period. The region is still trying to meet a new, tougher standard that measures pollution levels over eight hours.
Still, considering the many who doubted that the region would ever reach the one-hour milestone, "this is big news," said Jimmy Palmer, regional director of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
The region at one point was so far out of line with federal standards that it was unable to spend federal road construction money in Atlanta.
"The naysayers were wrong," said Palmer, who appeared with Gov. Sonny Perdue at a Capitol news conference.
!ADVERTISEMENT!
To reduce the area's air pollution, the state is using custom-formulated, low-sulfur automobile fuel, requires automobile emissions checks and has taken steps to curb industrial emissions, officials said.
Beth Allgood of the Southern Environmental Law Center hailed the announcement but said the state cannot yet claim victory, arguing that mild, wet summers played a part in meeting the one-hour standard.
Source: Associated Press
