Louisville to enforce stricter air pollution controls

Louisville's air pollution control board has approved a wide-ranging plan to cut toxic emmissions after nearly a year of debate among activists.

The move came three years after the Environmental Protection Agency labeled Louisville's air as the worst in the Southeast.

The Strategic Toxic Air Reduction program will require industries to use computer modeling to determine whether emissions of 37 chemicals pose unacceptable levels of risk to residents.  If they do, steps will be taken to reduce the risks.

Those standards for industrial emissions are more stringent than those of the state or the federal EPA.  The effective date for the plan is July first, with compliance required over the next three to six years.

Proponents of the plan say it is needed to protect the health of the community's residents.