"Local Leaders in the Dark on Air Pollution"

WASHINGTON (AP) - The health-risk scores that the government created over the last decade to identify communities with potential hazards from industrial air pollution caught many local officials by surprise.

In a widely published story last week, The Associated Press mapped those scores to neighborhoods in a computer analysis that found the risks from industrial air pollution disproportionately affect minorities and the poor.

The story has stirred both controversy and intrigue in communities across America.

In Grand Rapids, Mich., the mayor has asked his air pollution experts to learn more about the risk scores, which were created by the Environmental Protection Agency in the Risk Screening Environmental Indicators project.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20051222/D8ELHPFO6.html