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Eight St. Louis area counties and the city of St. Louis did not meet the Environmental Protection Agency's new clean air rules, the agency said Thursday.

Franklin, Jefferson, St. Charles, St. Louis counties in Missouri; Jersey, Madison, Monroe and St. Clair counties in Illinois; and the city of St. Louis did not attain to the new health standards for ground-level ozone and were given until June 2010 to meet the federal standards.

Clinton County, Ill., and Warren and Lincoln counties in Missouri were the only counties in the metro area that met the standards.

Each of the counties and St. Louis City received "moderate" classifications based on an 8-hour ozone standard, the EPA said. They must develop a plan to reduce ground-level ozone starting June 15, when the new rules take effect, the EPA said.

Ozone has been shown to aggravate asthma, damage the lining of the lungs and make breathing difficult. Ground-level ozone is formed when certain emissions react chemically in sunlight, and is a concern in the summer months.

Eighteen states and 2,668 counties meet the new standard, the EPA said. However, part or all of 474 counties nationwide failed to meet the new standard.

"This isn't about air getting dirtier," said Mike Leavitt, EPA administrator, in a statement. "The air is getting cleaner. These new rules are about our new understanding of health threats; about our standards getting tougher and our national resolve to meet them."