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Pushing the Limits; Air Pollution in the Roanoke Valley

Posted on: Monday, 27 February 2006, 12:00 CST

By Tim Thornton tim.thornton@roanoke.com 381-1669

Already nearly four years into a program aimed at reducing ozone - - a greenhouse gas and a major component of smog -- the Roanoke Valley may have particulate air pollution problems, too.

Proposed changes in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules for urban areas could put the Roanoke Valley, Richmond and Bristol at or above regulatory limits for airborne particles, even though the proposed changes aren't as significant as EPA staff recommended.

"We know it's an issue out there that we're right on the border of," said Mark McCaskill, senior planner with the Roanoke-Alleghany Regional Planning District. "We've been keeping an eye on it."

Particulate air pollution comes from many sources, from factories, power plants and automobiles to windblown soil. Smaller particles pose a bigger risk, according to the EPA.

Fine particulate matter -- 2.5 microns in diameter or less -- is associated with a number of respiratory and coronary health problems, including premature death. For reference, the period at the end of this sentence is about 600 microns across.

The average adult breathes about 11 cubic meters of air in a day, barring stressful exertion. Current standards limit exposure to fine particulates to a daily average of 15 micrograms per cubic meter of air, and a maximum 65 micrograms per cubic meter in a 24-hour span.

But an EPA staff report says meeting current standards for particulate exposure would still allow "thousands of premature deaths per year." About a third of the country's population is breathing air that doesn't meet those standards.

Roanoke, Salem and Bristol are barely within the current standards for average annual exposure. Conditions in much of the rest of Western Virginia are unknown because there are no monitors to record particulates.

According to John Bachmann, the EPA's associate director for science, air in at least 116 counties across the country violates the standards. Under the proposed new regulations, 191 counties would violate it. The EPA estimates those numbers will decline as the administration's Clear Skies program takes effect.

"Armed with these innovative clean-air policies and the best available science, we will continue to improve air quality and public health," EPA administrator Stephen Johnson said last month. "This proposal is yet another step to ensure the American people have cleaner air and healthier lives."

An EPA staff report estimated risks from small particulate matter would be reduced by at least 10 percent if the annual limits were reduced by 1 microgram per cubic meter and up to 30 percent if the limit were reduced by 3 micrograms.

The EPA proposal changes the allowable daily exposure from 65 micrograms per cubic meter to 35. It does not change the annual limit.

Areas that exceed the new requirements could become subject to programs similar to the one the Roanoke Valley is involved in to combat ozone. Local governments signed a compact with the EPA in 2002 to keep the federal government from imposing restrictions already imposed on Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads. Those restrictions include emissions tests on vehicles, stringent emissions standards for industry and specially formulated paints, cooking sprays and deodorants.

According to McCaskill, many of the things in the anti-ozone plan should also help reduce particle pollution.

EPA spokeswoman Enesta Jones wrote in an e-mail that areas that violate particulate matter regulations may have to require stricter controls on emissions from industrial facilities and automobiles, and consider the particulate problem in transportation planning.

The valley's fight against ozone pollution has been going well, according to Paul Truntich, Roanoke's environmental administrator. But at least some of the credit for that goes to good fortune.

"A lot of it kind of depends on the climate and the weather," he said.

Those elements won't help with particulate pollution.

The final decision on the new rules is scheduled for September. The comment period closes April 17.

Want to comment?

All comments should be identified by Docket ID No. OAR-2001-0017 and submitted by April 17:

The federal e-rulemaking portal: www.regulations.gov;

E-mail: a-and-r-docket@epa.gov

Fax: (202) 566-1741

Mail: Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center Environmental Protection Agency Mailcode: 6102T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Washington, D.C. 20460

Want to learn more?

Download the notice at: www.epa.gov/air/particlepollution/ actions.html

The proposed action background information at www.regulations.gov

New Rules?

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed changing the allowable standards for annual and daily exposure to small particulate air pollution. Air in the Roanoke Valley, Richmond and Bristol may violate those proposed standards.

Locality '99-'03 annual average '99- '03 24-hour limit

Bristol 15.2 35.9

Richmond 14.5 33.2

Roanoke 14.8 33.9

Salem 15 34.8

Proposed standards 15 35

Source: Roanoke Times & World News

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