“The nation’s oil and chemical plants are spewing a lot more pollution than is reported to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – and the agency knows about it,” according to an article by the Associated Press.
Yet, still, the agency has not adopted more accurate, higher-tech measuring methods that have been available since the 1990s.
Records, scientific studies and interviews conducted by the AP “suggest pollution from petrochemical plants is at least 10 times greater than what is reported to the government and the public.”
The U.S. is using outdated measuring devices, not advanced technology used by European countries. And, changes won’t happen for two or more years, at least, officials acknowledge, though an internal EPA watchdog called for improvements in 2006.
"Emissions have been underestimated in general," Peter Tsirigotis, a top EPA air-quality official, said recently, though he could not say why it has taken so long to modernize measuring.
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