“The Los Angeles basin is exposed to the highest ozone levels in the country,” Steve LaDoch Ph.D., an expert in air pollution, states.

In order to address air pollution, The Clean Air Act was implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 to regulate air emissions. The law also authorizes the EPA to create National Ambient Air Quality Standards in order to protect public health and regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants, including ozone.

 
Smog is the main cause for the pollution within the ozone layer closest to ground level. This ground-level ozone pollution has direct ties to the depletion of the “good ozone” within the upper atmosphere.

 
Chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds in the presence of sunlight, emissions from industrial facilities, vehicle exhaust, and other chemical solvents help form the “bad ozone.” The accumulation of these toxins damages the air needed for breathing, vegetation, and ecosystems. Man-made chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons, halons, methyl bromide, carbon tetrachloride, and methyl chloroform are also depleting the ozone layer of gas in the earth’s atmosphere. When these toxins are released into the environment, they slowly break down the ozone layer in the stratosphere, thus intensifying the impact of UV radiation on the Earth’s surface.

 
According to a study on ground-level ozone pollution by Junfeng Niu, “bad ozone” decreases the rate of photosynthesis. Researchers looked at Cinnamomum camphora seedlings, subtropical evergreen trees. They exposed plants to ozone and measured the amount of CO2 used. This study found that ozone exposure reduced the rate of photosynthesis by 6-32%, and that, in this plant, the effect was not due to the limitation of the stomata. Additionally, the photosynthetic rate slowed from direct damage to the plant from ozone. The damage involves decreased efficiency of photosystem II, slowed electron transport, damage of RuBisCO, and the photochemical apparatus. As a result, the stomata were kept open and lost water vital to photosynthetic processes.

 
This impact limits biodiversity due to the deaths of many plants and organisms within our ecosystem. On a larger scale, with many plants affected, these effects could create regional water shortages and impact global warming because photosystem II has less efficient light use.  

 
Based off these results, it is clear what needs to be done. The EPA should be encouraged to have even more stringent curves on pollution because our biodiverse environment is deteriorating. Additionally, the ozone layer as a whole is depleting, creating stronger UV rays which increase the chance of skin cancer and other health altering impacts.

According to the Los Angeles Times, there was twice as much smog-forming pollution from tailpipes and smokestacks in 2017 than in 2004. Additionally, Southern California violated air quality health standards 145 days of the year by November 2017 due to the excessive amount of pollution caused by smog from emissions.

 
“90% of California citizens live in counties with unhealthy air,” The California State University Chancellor's Office reports.

Due to this amount of unhealthy air, California has implemented stricter air pollution regulations in order to solve the issue of excessive amounts of emissions. However, last month, the Trump administration drafted a new set of regulations, weakening the Clean Air Act and initial plans to fix the ozone pollution issue throughout the country.

The graph at right illustrates the impact within the nation since the Clean Air Act has been implemented.  Between 1980 and 2016, there was a 31% decrease in the national average of ozone levels. If the Act’s implementations are reversed, it will set the nation back, worsening air quality.

 
The New York Times addressed how seventeen states have formed a lawsuit against the new regulations the Trump administration proposed. These new unlawful changes are violating the Clean Air Act.

Senator Tom Carper of Delaware, a Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, urges Americans to “immediately disavow [Trump’s] proposal” due to the negative impact the unregulated standards would cause.

 
In order to make the Clean Air Act stronger, the community needs to educate voters to encourage their lawmakers to continue the present regulations.

Sign this petition to align with California and the other states against the EPA under Trump who is altering vehicle pollution limitations.