The number of days that Maine experiences unhealthy air quality due to ground-level ozone will improve from 4 days in 1995 to a consistent standard of zero through 2000. In 1998 there were 2 days that Maine's ground-level ozone was high enough to be deemed unhealthy by this particular measure. This is a decrease from the previous summer that had 3 such days. Over the three-year period on which this standard is based, air quality has improved such that Maine is currently in compliance.
Air quality is important to long-term economic growth for three reasons.
First, high levels of ground-level ozone are unhealthy for Maine people, causing lost work days and other costs associated with ill health. Second, clean air is more valuable than dirty air because the dirtier the air is, the more we must reduce allowable additional pollution, and pollution reduction is costly. Third, Maine benefits economically from its reputation for being pristine. Gaining a reputation for poor air quality, whatever the cause, would work against economic growth. Up until 1998, the federal air quality standard was that the air should not contain more than .12 parts per million of ground-level ozone as measured by looking at maximum hourly concentrations.