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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 1, 1992                   TAG: 9201010192
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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FUEL CHANGE MAY BOOST AIR QUALITY

A change in the content of gasoline sold in Virginia may have improved air quality in the state, scientists believe.

Since 1987, several states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions adopted stricter gasoline evaporation standards than national law required. Although Virginia did not pass its own law, it has benefited because the gas is the same fuel sent by pipeline to other states.

"It had to have helped, but I don't know if it could be quantified," said Daniel Salkovitz, meteorologist at the Virginia Department of Air Pollution Control.

The lower evaporation rate reduces the level of unburned fuel escaping from car exhaust systems. The hydrocarbons in wasted fuel contribute to smog, of which ozone is the most dangerous component.

Ozone is considered dangerous to human health - especially among children, the elderly and people with respiratory ailments.

State officials point out that 1991 was the fourth-worst for ozone pollution in the past decade. Ozone exceeded the federal safety limits 20 times over the year. All but two violations were in Northern Virginia.

Ozone forms in the lower atmosphere by the reaction of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds. This pollution is caused by gasoline fumes, automobile exhaust, power plant and factory smokestacks, and small businesses, such as dry cleaners and painters, that use solvents.

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