Columbia May Exceed Tightened Ozone Limits

Columbia must redouble efforts to cut air pollution that has made it one of the smoggiest cities in South Carolina.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced new ozone standards Wednesday night that many expect will put the Columbia and Greenville-Spartanburg areas in violation of the smog rules.

EPA officials won’t formally decide for two years which parts of South Carolina violate the new standards for ozone, a lung irritant linked to premature deaths.

But state records show nine counties, including Richland and Spartanburg, have in the past three years registered average ozone levels higher than the standard announced Wednesday. States will have until 2013 to develop cleanup plans for ozone, in areas that don’t meet the standard.

The tighter rules come just three months after state regulators said the Columbia and Greenville areas had met existing standards for ozone pollution through largely voluntary efforts.

Few interest groups in South Carolina are satisfied with the new, tighter rules — particularly industrial leaders.

They fear that compliance will come at their expense and cause industrial recruitment to suffer. New pollution controls could be required that would cost them millions of dollars, they said. The tighter standards also could make it more difficult to receive federal highway funds for areas that don’t meet the standard.

"We are very concerned," said Lewis Gossett, president of the S.C. Manufacturers’ Alliance. Failing to meet the standards "could have a profound impact on South Carolina’s ability to grow."

Environmentalists and public health activists said the EPA should have imposed tighter standards that were recommended by an agency scientific panel. Still, the federal action is a step in the right direction, said environmental attorney David Farren.

"This is all about public health," said Farren, a lawyer with the Southern Environmental Law Center. "How do you put a price tag on what it feels like to breathe healthy air?"

Ground-level ozone forms on steamy, summer days when pollution from cars and factories mixes with sunlight. People with asthma and other lung disorders find it particularly difficult to catch their breath on days with high ozone levels.

Ozone in the Columbia and Greenville-Spartanburg areas was the highest in South Carolina during the past three years, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. Each had monitors registering ozone levels of 83 parts per billion, records show. The existing federal rules are 84 parts per billion.

The new standard will be 75 parts per billion. A team of national scientists had recommended a standard of 60 to 70 parts per billion to adequately protect human health.

"It is important to remember that the air is getting cleaner as a result of increasingly stringent federal and state regulations," DHEC air bureau chief Myra Reece said.

Now that the tighter standards are in effect, the Columbia and Greenville-Spartanburg areas will likely have to launch more stringent efforts to control ozone pollution.

"It’s frustrating," SCE&G’s Jack Preston said, explaining that SCE&G has spent more than $300 million in the past six years installing various pollution controls on its plants.

Preston, who tracks environmental compliance for the utility, said tighter regulation looms for its McMeekin power station if the Columbia-area falls out of compliance with new ozone standards. The McMeekin station is a coal-fired power plant near Lake Murray. It was unclear Wednesday how the new rules might affect utility rates.

Gov. Mark Sanford’s office had no comment Wednesday, but the governor has voiced his displeasure with the tighter standards.

In a Dec. 11 letter to EPA administrator Stephen Johnson, Sanford and governors from 10 other states said they are already making progress to limit ozone pollution — and they don’t need tougher standards.

"Uncertain health and environmental benefits do not warrant a tightened standard," the letter said.

Reach Fretwell at (803) 771-8537.

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