It is also often referred to as one of our most complex, comprehensive and far reaching environmental laws. Enormous progress has been made in the last twenty five years to control and reduce air pollution. Last year, the Bay area became the largest metropolitan area in the country to reach attainment of current federal ozone standard. However my state of California continues to face the most challenging and intractable air pollution problems in the Nation. Our South Coast Basin has the most polluted air in the country, and while we have seen a steady improvement of air quality, most of Southern and Central California does not yet meet the current federal ozone standard or the particulate matter standard.
Air pollution is a very serious problem.
For example, according to the EPA, the current annual average concentrations of fine particulate matter in Southeast Los Angeles County may be responsible for up to 3,000 deaths annually, and more then 52,000 incidents of respiratory symptoms including 1,000 hospital admissions. Even if current federal standards were achieved, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates 300-700 fine particle related deaths and more than 40,000 fine particle related health effects. Young children constitute the largest group at high risk from exposure to air pollutants. In California alone there are over six million children under the age of fourteen and approximately ninety percent of them live in areas that fail to meet state and federal standards. Studies show health effects ranging from 20 to 60 percent losses of lung capacity Despite this, representatives of industry claim that a thirty percent loss of lung capacity is not really a health effect because it is a only a temporary reversible loss in lung function.