The environment A hot harbinger of polluted air BY IAN DONNIS

After a cool and rainy spring, warm-weather enthusiasts could finally celebrate when the end of June delivered a prolonged blast of hot air. But the first hot day of the season on June 25 was accompanied by another mainstay of summer — an ozone alert, designating that air pollution has reached unhealthy levels.

The frequency of ozone alert days in Rhode Island has reached 10-year highs for the last two years, occurring almost every time the thermometer reaches 90 degrees, says Kate Canada, advocate for the Rhode Island Public Interest Group (RIPIRG). Much of the pollution comes from power plants in the Midwest, but the widespread use of cars is the greatest local contributor to smog-forming pollution. And while bad air quality most adversely affects children, the elderly, and those with asthma, "even healthy people have trouble exercising on ozone alert days," Canada says.

To help address the problem, RIPIRG is calling on Governor Donald L. Carcieri to support the imposition of stricter emission standards for all new cars sold in Rhode Island. The tougher standards — already in place in Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, and Maine — would decrease the amount of pollution in the air and reduce the number of ozone alert days in the summer, Canada says. The "clean cars standard" would also support greater use of hybrid electric vehicles, such as the Toyota Prius.

Carcieri says he’s sensitive to the environment, and he points to various efforts — the planting of eelgrass by Save The Bay, progress on the combined sewer overflow project in Providence, and the greatly improved condition of the Blackstone River — as encouraging developments. When it comes to RIPIRG’s proposal, though, the governor says he isn’t sufficiently familiar with the plan to comment.

Ozone alert days, which are designated by the state Department of Environmental Management and the US Environmental Protection Agency, may seem to some like a relatively fleeting nuisance. But Canada cautions that the long-term impact of steadily more days of people breathing unhealthy air could damage the state’s $3 billion tourism industry and have other harmful consequences. It doesn’t help, of course, that the Bush administration remains in denial about global warming, and, Canada says, is backing a plan to double the amount of smog that could be released from power plants and industrial facilities.

Despite the seemingly difficult outlook, Rhode Islanders can make a difference through such simple steps as conserving energy use, not refueling their cars until after 5 p.m., and making greater use of RIPTA, which is free on ozone alert days. Meanwhile, PIRG organizers are pressing the air quality issue as part of a statewide, door-to-door canvassing campaign. (For more information, visit www.ripirg.org.)