By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – St. Louis and surrounding counties are among 223 nationwide that do not meet a new federal air pollution standards for microscopic soot.
The EPA made the official announcement Friday. A preliminary listing was released in June.
The areas include the city of St. Louis and the counties of St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson and Franklin in Missouri. Also affected are nearby Illinois counties of Madison, St. Clair, Monroe and Randolph.
Fine particles lodge deep within the lungs and cause heart and lung ailments. The Environmental Protection Agency says soot-filled air annually causes 15,000 premature deaths, hundreds of thousands of cases of aggravated asthma, and 3.1 million days of missed work.
States have three years to come up with a plan to meet the regulations.