Arizona Breathing Easier

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Dear Friends,


Arizona had a very busy legislative season this year. Amid the all the important achievements, one of the bills passed in the flurry of last-minute activity was SB 1552, Arizona's first major air-quality legislation in a decade.



This strong new air quality bill puts into place new measures to protect the health of Arizonans, and will remove more than 10,000 tons of particulates from the air we breathe.



Removing particulates from the air is not just about keeping the sky blue. Air quality has a huge effect on our health. Dirty air can cause any number of respiratory problems, especially among our children and senior citizens.



The new law is a bipartisan approach to cleaning up our air. Earlier this year, Senators Carolyn Allen and John Huppenthal and I announced the introduction of a major air quality bill. Representative Ray Barnes helped move the measure through the House. The result is a bill that strongly addresses our air quality. Local governments will pave over many dirt roads and shoulders that blow up dust. Open burning will not be permitted in high-pollution months. Construction sites will have to ensure that they don't kick up particulates into the air. All citizens will stop using leaf blowers on bare dirt and will stop blowing debris into our streets to be churned up and breathed in by our citizens. Government employees and their contractors will refrain from using leaf blowers at all on high-pollution days. These are just some of the many new efforts that we are taking to clean up our air with this initiative.

Not only will this bill help clean up the air we breathe, but it will make sure Arizona keeps its share of federal highway funds. Right now, metropolitan Phoenix is in danger of noncompliance with federal health-based air-quality standards. The bill I signed will go a long way to bringing us in step with the guidelines. In that way, this bill is a win-win approach for Arizona in both the transportation and health arenas.



We should all have confidence that the air we breathe is clean - and thanks to the new efforts of this bill, Arizonans will be able to breathe easier.



As always, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact my office at 1-800-253-0883 and ask to speak to Constituent Services.




Yours very truly,


Janet Napolitano
Governor