Herald.com | 12/19/2005 | Health problems plague a polluted region: "Why this area of Orange County ranked the worst in the Sunshine State puzzled local health and environmental officials, given that there are no major industrial factories in the area....'I think the explanation may be that there are a number of small facilities in that area that are not large enough to require an air permit but use potentially toxic or hazardous substances -- some kind of manufacturing or repair operations,' said John Kasper, an engineer for the Orange County Environmental Protection Division."

Remember that pending changes to EPA rules would allow many more businesses to be defined as "small" polluters exempt from reporting to the Toxics Release Inventory.