The Obama administration has set a new U.S. national ozone standard, tightening limits on the smog-forming pollution linked to asthma and respiratory illness.
Officials familiar with the plan but not authorized to speak on the record say the Environmental Protection Agency will set a new standard of 70 parts per billion on Thursday, meeting a court-ordered deadline to act.
The new standard is below the current standard of 75 parts per billion but at the high end of a range announced by the EPA last fall.
The move fulfills a long-delayed campaign promise by President Barack Obama, but sets up a fresh confrontation with Republicans already angry about the administration's plans to curb carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants and regulate small streams and wetlands.
Business groups say a new ozone standard is unnecessary and could jeopardize jobs.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy says public health benefits far outweigh costs.
Environmental and public health groups called the action a step in the right direction, but said it did not go far enough to protect the public health.
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"The level chosen of 70 parts per billion simply does not reflect what the science shows is necessary to truly protect public health," said Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association.
The lung association and other health groups has pushed for an ozone limit of 60 parts per billion, saying it would have given Americans much greater health protections.
The EPA declined to comment ahead of the official announcement, but a top EPA official told Congress this week that the current limit "is not adequate to protect the public health."
Janet McCabe, an acting assistant EPA administrator, said a stricter standard is needed to cut dangerous ozone pollution and prevent thousands of asthma attacks, emergency room visits and even premature deaths.
A new ozone standard, combined with greenhouse gas reductions mandated by a rule limiting pollution from coal-fired power plants, "will extend the trajectory of the last 40 years when we've cut air pollution 70 percent — all while our economy has tripled," McCabe said.
