"I became interested because of my children and their health."

Lesley Kuhl doesn't call herself an environmentalist or an expert on air pollution. She's just a concerned Marietta resident who now has major worries about an air pollution bill.

The bill is asking the Ohio EPA to develop specific guidelines for companies seeking a pollution permit.

Kuhl says, "If the bill is giving away the Ohio EPA's ability to regulate any more stringently, that's what made everyone angry."

Opponents of the legislation have dubbed it "The Bad Air Bill" because they say the measure will make it difficult to control emissions and dangerous polluters may slip through the cracks.

Kuhl says, "Our area is being held back economically by certain businesses that pollute the air, because not having the clean atmosphere here discourages other high-tech businesses that wouldn't pollute."

Charlotte Keim at the Marietta Chamber of Commerce is a backer of the bill.

She says the new law will actually bring business to the area, because right now, acquiring a pollution permit is a lengthy process.

Currently, the permits are decided on an individual basis, rather than industry-wide standards.

Keim says, "In Ohio, 76,000 businesses fall in the permitting process. In Michigan, it's only 7,000. It's because in Ohio they have mandated absolutely everything that has to apply for an air permit; there's a back log."

Keim says she doesn't like the title, "Bad Air Bill" because the legislation still requires businesses to follow EPA laws.

"This is really for small businesses, for Joe who wants to start a printing company, or Bill who wants a gas station."

The air pollution bill has passed both the Ohio House and Senate.

Governor Taft is expected to sign it into law.