Tougher EPA Standards Could Give Wisconsin's Lake Michigan Shoreline Counties Cleaner Air

Though the states will be given years to clean their air, The US Environmental Protection released maps Wednesday showing 345 counties where there is an unhealthy level of ozone that needs to be improved.

Wisconsin's Lake Michigan shoreline counties are on the map.

Their names: Door, Kenosha, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine and Sheboygan counties.

AP story here: EPA release here.

And The New York Times explains that a tougher standard could have been set had the EPA followed the advice of a scientific panel, but caved into political pressure within the Bush administration for a compromised, lower standard.

The EPA findings and non-compliance map was released ironically as Milwaukee County, along with Waukesha County, were experienced an ozone warning, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Ozone, or smog, is bad for your lungs: some business groups argue that a little smog is the price we pay for job growth in southeast Wisconsin.

Look to those groups and national business organizations to challenge even these modest clean air improvements.