"Following science and the law, I am proposing to update national ozone pollution standards to clean up our air, improve access to crucial air quality information, and protect those most at-risk — our children, our elderly, and people already suffering from lung diseases like asthma," McCarthy said.
The proposal stipulates that the current standard of ozone pollution, which is 75 parts per billion, should be lowered to 65-70 parts per billion.
"In the U.S. today, one child in 10 already suffers from asthma, and ozone pollution makes things worse," McCarthy added.
"When EPA revised ozone standards in 1997, critics claimed 'new air quality regulations…will destroy jobs, hike business costs, and exact painful lifestyle changes while doing little to improve health,' None of that ever came true," McCarthy stressed.
In July, the National Association of manufacturers (NAM) said that lowering ozone pollution levels would reduce the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It also claimed that stringent regulation on ozone pollution levels would lead to a reduction in oil and natural gas production, which in turn could increase electricity costs by an average 23 percent.
