Efficient Methods to Achieve Clean Air - Vista, December 1998 - Dallas Fed

millennium, a type of air pollution called ground-level ozone threatens future growth. Texas cities that do not meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for this type of pollution could face sharp restrictions on new businesses and could bear significant new environmental costs. Many Texas cities are either in nonattainment with EPA guidelines for ozone or close to it. Although high ozone concentrations are generally found in the larger cities, recent research has shown that ozone-causing pollutants can spread across wide areas and that regional strategies to reduce ozone are more effective than focusing on only the areas with high concentrations. Thus, in the future, the costs of reducing ground-level ozone probably will be paid by firms and individuals in rural as well as metropolitan areas.