Green group launches smog text alert system

The Sierra Club launched a system Tuesday to send text message alerts when smog pollution is at a high level in certain areas.

The group said the system is meant to protect people from asthma attacks, which scientists believe increase in frequency in response to smog, whose main component is ground-level ozone.

{mosads}But the alerts are also meant to spur users to encourage the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to cut the allowable level of ozone pollution.

“Our hope is that this text alert system helps parents better protect their kids by alerting them when the air outside is unsafe to breathe,” Mary Anne Hitt, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, said in a statement.

“The system also allows families to send a message to the Environmental Protection Agency in support of stronger smog pollution protections that will cut down on the number of bad air days.”

The launch was timed to coincide with World Asthma Day, which is May 5.

It also comes as the EPA is considering lowering the nation’s ozone standard to between 65 and 70 parts per billion, from the current 75 parts per billion.

Energy companies, who fear that the rule would lead to restrictions on burning the fossil fuels that cause ozone, say that rule would cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

But the EPA and its supporters say those concerns are overblown, and a strong rule is necessary to prevent and mitigate respiratory illnesses.

The Sierra Club said more than 40 percent of people in the United States live in areas where the air is unsafe to breathe.

“This should be a wake up call for the EPA and White House to do more to alleviate this chronic health burden that adversely impacts some of our most vulnerable communities,” Hitt said in the statement.