Clean Air Partnership
The Clean Air Partnership will be hosting a
"VIP Reception" on Thursday,
July 8th at the Science Center from 5:30
p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The reception is
being held in an effort to increase the
level of awareness of CEO’s and senior
managers of area businesses and
institutions regarding the continued need to
address ozone air quality in the
greater metropolitan region. To date, nearly
400 local employers are
formally participating in either the Clean Air
Partnership’s Clean Air
Coordinator (CAC) or Ridefinder’s Employee
Transportation Coordinator
(ETC) Programs. These efforts involve the education
and encouragement of
employees to take voluntary measures to improve regional
air quality, largely
based in the use of car/van pools and mass transit. Many of
these measures
are recommended in response to American Lung Association’s
ozone forecasts
that are disseminated to the CAC’s and ETC’s as well as
through local news
media, roadside message boards and the Science Center
overpass to the general
public. In an effort to expand Clean Air Partnership
participation beyond
response to bad ozone forecasts, Dick Fleming, President
and CEO of the
Regional Commerce and Growth Association, and Honorary Co-Chair
of the Clean
Air Partnership, made special invitation to several area business
and civic
leaders to attend the VIP Reception on Thursday. "The reason for
this
gathering is simple," Fleming stated. "We want to continue our
ongoing
efforts to improve the air quality in the region. While we have made
great
strides bringing the number of bad air days down in the last decade –
down 80%
from the mid-80’s – there is still more to accomplish. Not only do
we want
to assure compliance with all local, state and federal clean air
laws, but we
also want to do all we can to assure the highest quality of life
possible for
those who live and work throughout the region." Through a new
"Community
Development" committee within the Clean Air Partnership, our
business and
civic leaders will be encouraged to institutionalize the notion
throughout the
region that attention to air quality is essential in order to
maintain a
healthful, as well as economically sustainable, lifestyle in the
greater region.
Examples of such "institutional" contributions have
already been
demonstrated by both and Illinois Departments of Transportation
in planned
deferment of lawnmowing and painting operations on "red" air days,
and
MSD’s postponement of a household hazardous waste collection day
until after
the ozone season. "Participation does not have to be costly or
burdensome. It
just takes planning, and some institutional commitment,"
Fleming added. That
is the point of Thursday’s reception.