EPA Smog Rules Wimpy, Oregon Regulators Say
The U.S. government set a stricter smog standard Wednesday, but Oregon regulators said it disregards scientific advice and doesn’t do enough to protect public health.
The new standard by the Environmental Protection Agency reduces allowable amounts of ground-level ozone, the main ingredient of smog, by 11 percent.
Nationwide, 345 counties will fail to meet the new standard in 2008, the EPA estimated, up from 85 under the old standard. Based on smog levels in recent years, Oregon and Washington will have no areas in violation, even though officials here worry about smog’s respiratory health effects.
Independent panels of scientists advising the EPA had unanimously recommended tougher limits — enough to affect Oregon and Washington. They wanted to reduce allowable amounts by 17 percent to 29 percent, citing new health research and strong concerns about smog’s effects on hundreds of thousands of children with asthma.
Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality also had asked the EPA to go with tougher standards, noting that Oregon’s asthma rates are well above the national average.
"There was good evidence to make the case for a tighter standard," David Collier, manager for DEQ’s air quality planning section, said Wednesday. "Our overriding thought is EPA should really listen to the science advisory committees."
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson approved a new maximum of 75 parts per billion of ozone over an eight-hour period, down from 84 parts per billion when the ozone standards were last revised in 1997.
The agency’s scientific panels had unanimously recommended 60 to 70 parts per billion. Recent studies found reduced lung function in healthy adults when ozone in the air reached levels of 60 ppb over an eight-hour period.
Johnson was asked repeatedly by reporters Wednesday why he didn’t follow the scientific panels’ advice. Among other reasons, he said, is a key study indicating health effects at low ozone levels had uncertain conclusions.
"Bottom line: I adhered to the law, and also I certainly considered the most recent scientific evidence in making the decision," he said, noting that ozone pollution has dropped 21 percent since 1980 while the economy has more than doubled.
Utilities and industry groups had argued for maintaining the old standard, and cost estimates for complying with the new standard set Wednesday went as high as $8.5 billion. But the Clean Air Act doesn’t allow EPA to consider the cost of reducing air pollutants. Estimates of health benefits from the new standard range from $2 billion to $19 billion.
Johnson said he wants Congress to revise the Clean Air Act to allow him to consider economic consequences and bring more enforcement against violators. Under the act as it stands, tighter standards can amount to "paper promises," Johnson said in an EPA news release.
The agency won’t declare areas out of compliance with the new standard until 2010, and violators could take a decade or more to comply. Many of the counties expected to fall short of the new standard are in California, the Northeast and the South.
Ground-level ozone is the main ingredient of smog. It results when car exhaust, chemical solvents, power plant pollution and industrial emissions react to sunlight. It’s worst on hot days with stagnant air, and can irritate lungs, damage crops and cause headaches, burning eyes, coughing and reduced lung function. Children with asthma are particularly susceptible, with lowered lung function spurring asthma attacks.
The scientific panels said new evidence shows the health effects more clearly, including premature deaths and reduced lung function in healthy people. Aside from people with asthma, other vulnerable populations include outdoor workers and elderly people with respiratory problems.
An EPA staff report last year backed up those assertions, saying "respiratory symptoms occur in healthy adult subjects at levels down to at least (60 ppb)."
EPA staff analyzed a 74 ppb standard, just below the standard Johnson picked. A standard set at that level would reduce the number of schoolchildren suffering "moderate" reduced lung function by up to 50 percent compared to maintaining the existing standard, the staff’s report said. A standard set at 64 ppb would reduce the number of children feeling moderate effects by 80 percent, staff estimated.
Oregon and Washington would have been hit harder by tighter standards. All four areas monitored in Oregon — the Portland, Salem, Eugene and Medford areas — had eight-hour averages exceeding 60 ppb in 2007.
Collier, the Oregon regulator, said he will ask the state’s Environmental Quality Commission whether it wants to step up ozone reduction programs in light of the new scientific evidence. Oregon probably wouldn’t set its own standard, Collier said, but the state could set a more ambitious goal and take additional steps to cut smog.
New clean car technologies and mileage standards are helping to reduce ozone, Collier said, but expected increases in population and vehicle miles traveled could boost it.
There’s no plan to expand mandatory auto emissions checks beyond Portland and Medford, Collier said. Additional steps might include summer programs to reduce power lawn mowing emissions and paint fumes.
State regulators are also embarking on plans to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions and to reduce toxic emissions in the Portland region, both likely to reduce ozone as well.
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