Bejing’s air pollution attracted worldwide attention during this summer’s Olympic Games, but the Chicago area is struggling with its own air-quality problems.

Fourteen counties in Illinois — including Cook, DuPage, Kane, McHenry and Will counties — are failing to meet federal standards for the amount of soot in the air, according to a recent announcement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA tightened its soot standards in 2006 after the health risks posed by the airborne fine particles became more widely known. Soot has been associated with a range of serious health problems, including aggravation of lung disease, asthma attacks and heart problems, according to the EPA.

Ashley Collins is an environmental health associate with the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago. She said the EPA’s recent announcement did not come as a surprise.

“Many of these counties were already in violation of the soot standards,” Collins said. “It’s another wake-up call to these counties that they need to get their act together and clean up their local sources of pollution.”

One of the biggest culprits is diesel fuel, she said.

Soot from diesel exhaust is responsible for triggering more than 19,000 asthma attacks, nearly 1,200 heart attacks and 878 premature deaths each year in Illinois, according to a 2005 study by the Clean Air Task Force.

The problems diesel poses can be addressed through new technology, Collins said.

Exhaust filters for diesel vehicles, combined with the use of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel, which is now standard, can eliminate over 90 percent of fine particles from a diesel engine tailpipe, she said.

Federal laws require all diesel trucks and buses built in 2007 or later to be equipped with the filters, but older models are not subject to the same requirements. Construction equipment will not be required to have the filters until 2012.

DuPage County Board member Jeff Redick, R-2nd District, of Elmhurst heads the board’s Environmental Committee. He said the soot standards are “almost impossible to meet” in the county.

“A big chunk of it is our proximity to the city of Chicago and the industry there,” Redick said. Regional traffic congestion is also a major contributor, he added.

The county has tried to reduce the output of air pollution by working with public transit and transportation officials to address gridlock and encouraging residents to use public transportation, Redick said.

In addition, Redick said the county government has also tried to lead by example through converting 20 percent of its vehicle fleet to biodiesel fuel.