Can smog save us from the much-dreaded death rays of solar ultraviolet radiation? The U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are about to go toe-to-toe over this!
As brief background, there are two types of ozone; one associated with "good" and the other with "bad." "Good" ozone is in the stratosphere and filters ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun. It is associated with the terms "chlorofluorocarbons", "ozone depletion" and "ozone hole."
"Bad" ozone is in the troposphere and is better known as smog. Ugh!
As the (politically correct) theory goes, manmade chlorofluorocarbons have been thinning stratospheric ozone thereby causing more ultraviolet radiation to reach the Earth's surface (But only in some places, like the Antarctic!).
And because ultraviolet radiation is known to be a risk factor for skin cancer (really!), more UV radiation has been theorized to lead to more skin cancer. (But no one really knows this with anything approaching reasonable certainty!)
According to rumor, EPA will soon propose to reduce air pollution by making more stringent the national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for "bad" ozone. (If a designated region's ambient concentration of "bad" ozone exceeds the NAAQS, then the region is designated as being in "nonattainment" with the Clean Air Act, a designation requiring the region to take action to reduce ozone levels).
As part of this proposal, EPA is preparing an analysis of the proposal's costs and benefits.
In a perverted twist of junk science, the Department of Energy wants EPA to include in the cost-benefit analysis a DOE estimate that a more stringent ozone NAAQS will result in 2,000 to 11,000 skin cancers per year. The DOE estimate is based on the theory that "bad" ozone, like "good" ozone, filters out harmful UV radiation!
According to the Inside EPA report, EPA is leaning against including the DOE estimate because the estimate is "fraught with great uncertainty." Apparently EPA's theory of "good" ozone depletion leading to increased cancer risk is not "fraught with great uncertainty?"
Will smog become the answer to ozone depletion? I can't stop laughing long enough to think about it! But one thing's for sure. The rest of us could learn something from DOE. The way to fight junk science is with...what else?...MORE JUNK SCIENCE!
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