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Ozone Season's Greetings!

Austin Mayor Lee Leffignwell marked the start of Ozone Season with a press conference at City Hall.
Mose Buchele for KUT News.
Austin Mayor Lee Leffignwell marked the start of Ozone Season with a press conference at City Hall.

It's that time of year again. 

April 1 to October 31 is ozone season in Central Texas.  These are the months when we expect the highest amounts of ground level ozone in the air. Last year, the Austin area came dangerously close to falling out of attainment of the federal clean air standard of 74 parts of ozone per-billion.  With the Environmental Protection Agency set to announce even stricter standards, it could be even harder for the region to stay in attainment this year.

There are some local programs that help decrease ozone emissions. The most well known, of course, is the Ozone Action Day. The Clean Air Force of Central Texas alerts people when ozone is expected to be especially high so they can make plans to limit their driving, put off lawn mowing, and do other things to reduce ozone emissions. 

The Clean Air Force is also sponsoring an electric lawnmower discount program for those of you in the market for a new lawnmower.

Another program also provides discount for mowers purchased at Home Depot.

So go ahead, put off mowing that lawn. You might just be helping the environment.

Mose Buchele focuses on energy and environmental reporting at KUT. Got a tip? Email him at mbuchele@kut.org. Follow him on Twitter @mosebuchele.
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