Smog covered skyline of New Jersey is seen in the background as pedestrians enjoys a shady spot along the Hudson River in New York in this Tuesday, July 10, 2007 file photo.Some of the biggest lobbying forces in Washington are waging an intense campaign to head off tougher regulations on smog that health experts blame for hundreds of premature deaths to asthma and other respiratory diseases. The Environmental Protection Agency within weeks will decide whether it should further reduce the allowable amount of ozone, a precursor of smog, in the air. The tougher standard would require hundreds of counties across the country to find new ways to reduce the smog-causing emissions to meet the revised federal health standard. Groups representing manufacturers, automakers, electric utilities, grocers and cement makers, met with White House officials recently in a last ditch effort to keep the health standard unchanged. (AP Photo/Adam Rountree, File)

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