Albuquerque, New Mexico recently won an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant worth more than $763,000, which will help the city fulfill requirements of the Clean Air Act, including compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).
The Clean Air Act targets air pollution and has reduced particles, ozone, lead, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide, amongst other materials, in the 40 years that it has been in effect. Using the funding from the EPA, Albuquerque will work toward attaining and maintaining the NAAQS, as well as reducing toxics emissions and implementing initiatives to enforce air quality protection.
Air pollution poses a danger to those with pre-existing conditions, especially respiratory and heart diseases. The grant to Albuquerque comes as an EPA study found links between areas with higher air pollution and increased risk of heart disease and heart attacks. The study, which was published in Environmental Research, used NASA satellite data to determine that even small amounts of increased fine particle pollution can, when averaged over a year, increase the risk of heart attack by up to 14 percent.
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