Thursday, September 6, 2007
News EPA considers stricter smog regulations
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Thu, Sep 6, 2007 at 2:59 PM
Five advocacy groups Wednesday urged the Environmental Protection Agency to approve stricter standards that govern ozone emissions.
At a press conference in Atlanta, Frank O’Donnell -- president of the Washington, D.C.-based Clean Air Watch -- used an analogy that a doctor told him: “Breathing ozone is like rubbing sandpaper on the lungs.â€
The EPA held a 12-hour public hearing at the Atlanta Federal Center Wednesday, allowing residents a chance to weigh in on the agency’s proposed changes to the national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for ozone -- otherwise known as smog.
The current standard, 0.08 to 0.084 parts per million, was enacted in 1997, and the agency is proposing a stricter range of 0.07-0.075 ppm, a change being met with opposition by industries usually considered the most egregious of violators.
Ozone poses a significant health risk, causing shortness of breath, chest pain and exacerbation of asthma, among other maladies. It can even lead to premature death.
Paula Eggers, a Marietta resident and advocate for asthmatic children, displayed the six medications and nebulizer her 12-year-old son Matt takes and uses when his condition becomes agitated. On days the smog level is high he cannot go outside, she said, because “Matt has asthma and we live in Atlanta.â€
O’Donnell, holding a letter written by Gov. Sonny Perdue that he said asks the EPA to leave the standards where they are, called ozone “the most widespread of air pollutants.â€
He described the revised-standards debate as a “clash between real science and political science,†and urged the agency to weigh the evidence and facts about ozone’s health risks in making its decision.
The push for lower standards is not only coming from those wishing to improve public health. Bart Melton, a program analyst for the Southeast regional office of the National Parks Conservation Association, said plant life in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has been negatively affected by ozone. Since 1990, he says, the park has recorded 300 days when ozone levels have exceeded the primary standard. Before-and-after photos he showed of park flora illustrate the effect of ozone -- wilted, brown leaves and shrunken growth.
The manufacturing and energy industries oppose the proposed change, arguing that stricter standards equate to greater costs, a burden that will rest on to the consumer. “EPA’s new regulatory regime will impose billions of dollars in additional costs on American industry -- costs that will result in higher prices for energy, electricity and consumer goods,†said John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, an industrial trade association.
The change in standards is a move, in the words of Sherian Wilburn, executive director for the Georgia Industry Association, akin to “moving the goalposts.†She cites a significant drop in key air-pollutant emissions -- 54 percent, according to industry research -- as progress made before the current standards have even taken their full effect.
Dr. Michael Chang, an atmospheric scientist at Georgia Tech, said industries that cause ozone pollution will not be hit hard if the EPA’s lower standards go into effect.
But he also warned that improvements will not miraculously appear overnight, and the idea of an “asthma-free wonderland†isn’t going to happen. “People have to see it as not so much a place or destination, but a trip,†Chang said. “It’s a continuous process that has to be worked. Every day we have to wake up and make improvements.â€
Chang gestured toward the traffic idling outside in downtown Atlanta.
“If you want to think about what to do about Atlanta’s problems, you gotta figure out what to do with the cars and trucks,†Chang said. “Even though [cars and trucks] get cleaner every year, we drive more of them longer distances.â€
Atlanta was the last of five cities, which included Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, to hold public hearings about the standards. Final written comments will not be accepted after Oct. 9. The EPA will announce its final standards March 12, 2008.
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