— The Daily Collegian Thursday, Aug. 28, 1997
Northeast region
on 'thickest smog
By JEFF DONN
Associated Press Writer
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. With
late-summer swelter still possible,
much of the Northeast is panting
and heaving through its thickest
smog in years, air quality monitors
say.
In Connecticut, the smog has
been at its worst since 1993. In
Maryland, any more hot and stag
nant weather will also likely yield
that state's highest levels in years.
Environmental regulators blame
the 1997 Summer •of Smog on
quirks of the annual weather cycle.
They say hot, still, sunny weath
er conspired with the position of
the jet stream to produce excep
tional conditions for making ozone
popularly called smog.
"It's kind of like we got hit in the
bull's-eye," said Paul Miller, a poli
cy analyst for the Northeast States
for Coordinated Air Use Manage
ment, set up by government health
officials around the Northeast.
Smog forms when sunlight cooks
chemicals released into the air
largely by cars and factories.
It is found in the lowest slice of
the atmosphere near the ground,
not in the so-called ozone layer of
the stratosphere.
Smog worsens asthma, allergies,
and many lung ailments.
Children who play outside, adults
who jog or work outside, and the
elderly are especially susceptible.
Air quality monitors say this sea
son's spiking smog provides a
reminder that much of the North
east still violates federal safety
Altoona abuzz about the arrival of
'6O Minutes' newsman Ed Bradley
ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) A radio
station announced the motel he was
staying in.
A television station tracked down
a waitress at the deli where he
noshed a bagel.
The newspaper found him spoon
ing down chili in a hoagie shop.
Television correspondent Ed
Bradley and his "60 Minutes" crew
had planned to slip quietly into
Altoona, spend three days report
ing their story and leave.
It didn't happen that way.
"Some radio station was offering
movie tickets to the person who
could find Ed Bradley. In restau
rants, people were kind of pointing
at him. He gets his picture on top
of page one at the Altoona Mirror,"
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standards for pollution, despite
general improvement over the
They say it demonstrates the
need for new smog-control efforts
that are underway in some states.
The Northeast, from the north
ern section of Virginia to Maine,
has strained under 24 smog days so
far this year with levels above
the U.S. standard for at least one
monitoring station, according to
Miller.
The region's most recent peak
years were 1995 with 25 smog days
and 1993 with 38.
There were 60 in 1988 an indi
cation of the overall trend down
ward.
Some of the highest smog levels
this summer were recorded in Con
necticut, which includes part of the
New York City metropolitan area,
and Maryland, where commuters
clog the highways between Balti
more and Washington.
In Connecticut, the 13 smog days
so far is the highest since 1993,
which had 15, according to regula
tors in that state. Maryland has 14
so far, equaling 1995, that state's
monitors said.
The 16 smog days in 1993 set the
record for the last five years.
Pharmacist Jeff Messina of the
Fort Hill Pharmacy in Groton,
Conn., said he has noticed a consid
erable increase of complaints this
summer.
He said patients are complain
ing mostly about respiratory trou
ble.
He has been filling more pre
scriptions than usual and advising
CBS cameraman Bill Cassara said
yesterday as he packed his gear to
leave town.
Bradley came to delve into the
case of Dennis and Lorie Nixon, a
couple sentenced to prison last
spring for relying on faith-healing
while their teenage daughter died
of diabetes.
"But the '6O Minutes' correspon
dent becomes bigger than the story
he's doing," said Bradley's sound
man, Everett Wong.
Rich Dennis, a morning show
host for radio station WVAM-AM,
took a station van on a fruitless,
two-hour search for the correspon
dent.
"It probably seemed like I was
stalking," he admitted. "But I'm a
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some customers to stay indoors
when possible.
"I wouldn't be surprised if the
smog had a lot to do with it," he
said.
The heavy smog season descend
ed just as governments are pushing
forward with several efforts to fur
ther curtail ozone in the Northeast.
The U.S. Environmental Protec
tion Agency will direct states next
month•to reduce smog-causing
chemicals from utilities and facto
ries.
Some Northeast states are press
ing for stronger action, asking the
EPA to clamp down directly on pol
luting power plants in the Midwest.
They say pollution from those
utilities travels on the jet stream,
adding to pollution in the North
east.
'We generate some of our, own
problem," said John Brickley,
director of the American Lung
Association of Massachusetts.
"Then we also suffer some of the
. . . transport problem that comes
from the Midwest."
Some states, including Massa
chusetts and Maryland, are adopt
ing more advanced methods to test
car emissions.
Quentin Banks, a spokesman for
the Maryland Department of the
Environment, said a new, more
accurate, treadmill device will
replace the tailpipe check on Oct. 1
in that state.
"The cars coming out of Detroit
are less polluting. By the same
token ... there are more cars out
on the road, and they're driving
farther," he said.
huge fan of '6O Minutes' and Ed
Bradley, and this was a quest."
Waitresses at two restaurants
said customers badgered them for
news of the newsman.
Even as Mayor Raphael Voltz
fretted that the "60 Minutes" story
might tarnish the image of this city
85 miles east of Pittsburgh, the
Allegheny Mountains Convention
and Visitors Bureau stuffed a T
shirt and locally-made Slinky into a
gift bag for Bradley.
But Blair County District Attor
ney William Haberstroh failed to
feel the euphoria.
"Maybe 20 years ago, I'd be a lot
more excited," he said as he await
ed an interview with Bradley.
"Now, I'm not impressed."
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