BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Kenton County became the Tristate's newest hot spot for smog on Tuesday.
A monitor in Covington recorded 125 parts per billion (ppb) of ozone at 5 p.m., the second time in three years Kenton County exceeded the federal limit.
Anything over 124 ppb is an exceedance.
Lynn Cassity, environmental inspector for Kentucky's division for air quality, said the Kenton reading was being checked to assure its accuracy but previous high readings were reliable.
Kenton's previous exceedance was in 1996.
Middletown is the other trouble spot. It exceeded the ozone limit in 1996 and 1997.
There also were near-misses Tuesday. The Boone County monitor near Rabbit Hash recorded 123 ppb at 5 p.m. and the Campbell County monitor in Dayton found 121 ppb at 6 p.m.
In Ohio, the Lebanon monitor recorded 123 ppb at 6 p.m.
Four exceedances at any one monitor during three consecutive years is a violation of the Clean Air Act.
A violation increases the likelihood of stricter federal controls on vehicle and industrial emissions in Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties in Kentucky and Hamilton, Clermont, Warren and Butler counties in Ohio.
Sunlight bakes volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides into smog and ozone is the eye-stinging and breath-taking ingredient that federal rules seek to minimize.
Most of the pollutants come from power stations, other industries, vehicles and vegetation.
