In this report from Pacific Research Institute yesterday, we have a nice wrap-up of the presidential visit to California this Earth Day, along with reminders of the progress we have made in cleaning up our air in California.
Here is an excerpt.
George Bush Visits California on Earth Day
by K. Lloyd Billingsley
SACRAMENTO, CA – Last Saturday, Earth Day, President Bush toured the California Fuel Cell Partnership in West Sacramento, where he told an audience of about 150, including reporters, that after five years of his administration, "America's air is cleaner, our water purer and the land is better cared for." That invites a look at the delicate subject of air quality in California.
The last three years have seen the nation’s lowest levels of ozone smog since monitoring began in the early 1970s. In 2004, ozone levels were the lowest in U.S. history. In 2005, a hot summer caused more exceedences of the Clean Air Act standard than were experienced in 2004. Ozone levels, however, remained below those of previous summers with above-average temperatures, especially 1988 and 1998.As the media noted, Houston and the San Joaquin valley experienced "exceptionally clean air." While that made Los Angeles look bad by comparison, California's largest city did well on its own terms, with fewer exceedences of the ozone standard in 2005 than in 2004, part of a long-term trend.
