Pollution, Rubbertown (and the VET Program?)

Good news from the C-J's James Bruggers in USA Today (hat tip: Linda Christiansen)...

My question(s): does this connect back to the end of VET five years ago in Jefferson County? Related to that, why did STAR finally STARt to "take care of business" (so to speak)? Was it science, political pressure and media attention alone-- or was it the end of VET's supposed contributions to pollution (along with EPA regs) which strongly encouraged Louisville to deal with alternative (real) pollution?

UPDATE: Jim just wrote back in response to my query and pointed me to one of his C-J articles-- which noted that Louisville got reduced emissions from Kosmos Cement to offset the end of the VET. So, there is no connection. Of course, that begs another question: why would the emissions of one cement factory offset the VET?

For years, Louisville has been known for fast horses, fine bourbon, a love of college basketball — and lousy air.

People who lived near a complex of chemical plants, called Rubbertown, put up with odors, burning eyes and fears that their every breath might contribute to asthma, cancer or other illnesses.

But that began to change about a decade ago, after a minister from the predominantly African-American neighborhoods around Rubbertown organized protests, demanding aggressive government action to clean up the toxic air and reduce the chemical emissions from factories.

The campaign soon ranged beyond those neighborhoods, attracting the help of university scientists, industry representatives and government officials. It has led to an ambitious and successful anti-pollution effort that has gained national attention....

Louisville's Strategic Toxic Air Reduction (STAR) program, launched in 2005 after years of squabbling and negotiations, has dramatically cut emissions...

The Louisville effort started at the grass-roots level in the early 1990s. Leading the charge was the Rev. Louis Coleman, a civil rights leader whose father worked many years for DuPont in Rubbertown....

Then two key figures got involved. Arnita Gadson was hired through the University of Louisville to lead the newly created West Jefferson County Community Task Force, which made air monitoring a priority, and environmental attorney Art Williams, a former high-ranking state official, signed on as director of Louisville's air-pollution agency....

Ironically (if VET's demise was a contributing factor), Williams fought its repeal tooth and nail!

The local newspaper, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal, launched a year-long series on toxic air in 2003 by obtaining the task force's first year air monitoring data and publishing the first analysis of it in May that year....