Junking Clunkers Helps Clear The Air

Last year, the state bought 207 old cars at above-market prices -and then junked them.

The idea behind Cash for Clunkers was to make the air cleaner bytaking old polluting cars off the road.

On Thursday, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency officialspronounced the program a "tremendous success" and said they'll seekto expand it next year.

"It worked much better than we expected," said EPA Director MaryGade.

There are more than 200,000 pre-1980 cars in the Chicago area.They represent 10 percent of all cars but belch at least 30 percentof the pollution that contributes to ozone smog.

The agency bought cars from Chicago and south …