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HAMILTON — The air in Butler County is too dirty to breathe, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and changes to nationwide air-quality standards are only making it look worse.

The EPA announced Wednesday, March 12, that it was limiting the amount of smog allowed in the air, forcing a multi-billion dollar, nationwide anti-smog effort.

But the lower standard still falls short of what health experts said is needed, and neither Butler nor Warren counties met the old standard.

Butler County's average smog — or ozone — level reached a high of 85 parts per billion in the most recent measured time span: 2005 through 2007. Warren County reached 88 ppb. The new rule calls for the maximum to change from 80 ppb to 75 ppb.

EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson called the new limits "the most stringent standards ever," and he said they will require 345 counties nationwide to make changes.

But those changes are still years off. Ohio EPA officials said they'll have a plan to address excessive smog levels by 2013. In the near future, residents may see more "ozone action days," when ozone levels breach the limit.

Two scientific advisory panels had told the U.S. EPA that limits of 60 to 70 parts per billion are needed to protect children, the elderly and people suffering from respiratory illnesses.

"Today's decision means millions of Americans will not get the protection that the law requires," said Bernadette Toomey, president of the American Lung Association.

Powerful industry groups also criticized the change. Electric utilities, the oil and chemical industries and manufacturing groups argued that lowering the standard would require new pollution controls, harming economic growth.

But the U.S. EPA said that the new limits could prevent more than 1,000 premature deaths and 5,600 fewer hospital visits nationwide.