Breathing air may cause lack of reason

It's the only way to explain it. In the Louisville area, the city has control of air quality regulations and has worked to make them stricter than those enforced by the federal government. Now, however, Sen. Dan Seum, R-Louisville has filed to take that right away.

Where's the lack of reason, you may ask? Here you go:

A study completed in 2003 for the West Jefferson County Community Task Force identified health risks from toxic air that were higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had previously estimated for anywhere in the country. The year before, an unrelated study by the EPA's Atlanta office ranked Jefferson County first in the Southeast for health risks from air pollution.

Seum said he doesn't believe air quality is any worse in Louisville than in other cities of similar size in the region.

Okay, so if Seum is right, than every city of comparable size to Louisville in that region has higher than normal risk from toxic air and every city would be ranked first in the southeast for health risks. That issue should probably be addressed as quickly as possible.

If Seum is wrong, then his actions limit a city's ability to take care of it's citizenry for no reason other than his belief that there is no harm. So it sounds like a lose-lose position for Seum to take.

Must be something in the air.