COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR RESOLUTION NO. 920758, AS AMENDED

Endorsing the Heartland Sky Community Awareness Program and urging all Kansas City Area citizens to become knowledgeable about and adopt clean-air strategies to reduce pollution and protect Kansas City's clean air.

WHEREAS, on May 12, 1992, the metropolitan Kansas City area officially became a "Clean Air" region when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designated it an attainment area for ground-level ozone, making Kansas City the largest urban area in the country to meet the rigorous federal standards for the six pollutants regulated under the original Clean Air Act; and

WHEREAS, Saturday evening of June 13, 1992, a Kansas City monitor recorded ozone levels that exceeded acceptable hourly concentrations. The "Clean Air" designation, so important to the economic growth of the area and the health of its citizens, may be jeopardized if any of the region's six monitoring stations records a violation of the hourly standard on more than three different days over a three-year period; and

WHEREAS, air quality in the Kansas City region remains extremely vulnerable to summer weather conditions when heat and sunlight react with emissions from motor vehicles and other air pollutants to create smog. Business and industry have made significant cuts in emissions already which, in part, enabled the region to meet the stringent air quality standard. But automobiles create more than a third of the emissions that create smog. Therefore, it is important that area citizens learn and adopt simple clean-air strategies which can reduce such emissions. We the Council recommend the Heartland Sky Campaign's "Sky Tips":

Leave the car at home. Walk, ride a bike, take a bus or join a carpool.

Use electric lighters, wax lighters or portable chimney lighters instead of charcoal starter fluid for outdoor cooking.

Keep car, lawn mower and boat engines tuned and equipped with proper pollution control equipment.

Don't "top off" the tank at the gas pump.

Wait until evening to fill the car, mow the grass or cook outdoors.

Use water-based paints and other products.

Limit the use of fuels, cleansers, furniture polish and paint thinners.

If all area citizens make such clean-air strategies a regular part of their daily routine, it would significantly improve the quality of air in the region and protect the "Clean Air" designation; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF KANSAS CITY:

That the Mayor and Council hereby endorse the Heartland Sky Community Awareness Program and urge all the citizens of the Kansas City Area to become active, participating advocates of clean and healthy air for Kansas City by learning and practicing clean air strategies where they live and work.

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