New Ozone Limits Could Cost Idaho

The Environmental Protection Agency’s new limits on ozone could mean new rules for painters and dry cleaners and new requirements for road-building, but better air for people who suffer from lung and heart ailments.

More than 500 counties that now meet federal air standards — including Ada and Canyon — could exceed the health standards when the limit is set Wednesday.

Ada County exceeded standards for carbon monoxide and larger particulates in the 1990s, and a lawsuit brought much of the area’s federal road funding to a halt in 1999.

Then, federal regulators forced Ada County to spend its federal highway dollars on bike lanes, buses and other projects designed to reduce car travel, instead of road widening projects.

The EPA has done the same in cities like Atlanta; Phoenix and San Francisco.

But now that both particulates and carbon monoxide are back under the health limits, local officials hope to avoid the more complicated restrictions that would come if the ozone standard is exceeded.

Idaho lawmakers and business leaders are seeking to keep ozone below the limit with a House-passed bill that would allow the state to alter the car emissions testing program now required in Ada County and expand it to Canyon County.

But regulating ozone isn’t always easy.

Ozone is a colorless gas, a form of oxygen, that causes burning of the lungs even at low levels. It irritates the eyes and other tissues and aggravates existing respiratory and cardiac conditions. Prolonged exposure can cause permanent damage to the lungs or death.

It forms when nitrogen oxide gas, emitted primarily from cars, mixes with volatile organic chemicals in the atmosphere and is "cooked" by sunlight. The chemicals come from a wide variety of sources; most are natural, though other sources range from paint shops to the Micron Technology plant.

Because it forms in the presence of heat and sunlight, ozone is most severe in summer.

Ozone is more complicated to control because in some areas, lowering the volatile organic chemicals is more effective; in others, lowering the nitrogen oxide is the best measure.

State regulators won’t know what to do until extensive and costly tests are done in the event the area exceeds the standards.

Communities, including the Treasure Valley, could face:

A loss of federal highway funding, unless planners can show new or expanded roads won’t increase pollution.

Requirement for reformulated gasoline, which is more expensive.

EPA-forced revisions to state-issued permits for industry.

Requirements for states to offset the pollution from new industrial sources, making it harder for industries to build or expand.

Painters may have to limit the use of oil-based paints. Other businesses such as dry cleaners that emit smaller levels of volatile organic chemicals could face restrictions.

Agriculture would be encouraged to reduce pollutants voluntarily but could face restrictions or potential litigation.

Health and environmental groups are urging EPA to set the limits low. EPA’s own independent science advisers unanimously recommended lowering them to a a level that would prevent at least 2,330 deaths, 4,000 heart attacks and 4,600 emergency room visits nationwide for asthma said the EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee.

But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said such a radical change — between 60 to 70 parts per billion from the current standard of 84 ppb — would mean many communities would exceed the limit that it could have "significant repercussions" on the economy.

At 78 ppb, the Treasure Valley is just under 84 ppb.

If the EPA sets it at 75 parts per billion as expected, only an unseasonably cool summer could keep the Treasure Valley from going over the limit, said Mike DuBois, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality Treasure Valley airshed coordinator.

But if the standard is set as high as 80 parts per billion, the emissions program, which is expected to reduce about a thousand tons of pollutants annually, may be enough to keep the region above the standard.

Michael Replogle, an air pollution and transportation expert with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said it was in Idaho’s interest both for health reasons and economics to reduce ozone as much as possible no matter what the EPA does.

"Idaho has a real reputation as a clean, healthy place to live," Replogle said. "(Exceeding the standards) would clearly tarnish that reputation."

Rocky Barker: 377-6484

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