Hundreds of counties now in violation of new smog standards
Published 10:37 pm Wednesday, March 12, 2008
WASHINGTON — The air in hundreds of U.S. counties is simply too dirty to breathe, the government said Wednesday, ordering a multibillion-dollar expansion of efforts to clean up smog in cities and towns nationwide.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced it was tightening the amount of ozone, commonly known as smog, that will be allowed in the air. But the lower standard still falls short of what most health experts say is needed to significantly reduce heart and asthma attacks from breathing smog-clogged air.
The new limits require 345 counties — out of more than 700 that are monitored — to make air quality improvements because they now have dirtier air than is healthy to breathe, said EPA administrator Stephen Johnson.
Johnson said that state and local officials have considerable time to meet the requirements, as much as 20 years for some that have the most serious pollution problems. EPA estimates that by 2020 the number of counties failing to meet the new health standard will drop to about 28.
About 85 counties still fall short of the old standard enacted a decade ago.
Some of those chronic polluters are far above the old limit: Los Angeles County and a large swatch of Southern California, for example, and a long stretch from Washington, D.C., up to New England on the East Coast.
Some areas that would be newly included under the stricter standard include Indianapolis and Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County in the Midwest; Mobile, Ala., and Jacksonville, Fla., in the South; and El Paso, Texas, and Tulsa, Okla.
Johnson’s decision is likely to be met with sharp criticism from health experts and some members of Congress who accused the EPA chief of ignoring the science. The new standard goes counter to the recommendations of two of the agency’s scientific advisory panels, one on air quality and the other on protection of children.
The new EPA standard will lower the allowable concentration of ozone in the air to no more than 75 parts per billion, compared with the old standard of 80.
The science boards had told the agency that limits of 60 to 70 parts per billion are needed to protect the nation’s most vulnerable citizens, especially children, the elderly and people suffering from asthma and other respiratory illnesses.
Johnson said he took those recommendations into account, but disagreed with the scientists.
“In the end it is a judgment. I followed my obligation. I followed the law. I adhered to the science,” said Johnson in a conference call with reporters.
Johnson said he did not consider the cost of meeting the new air standard. States and counties would have to require emission reductions from factories, power plants and cars to meet the tougher health rules.
The EPA estimated that compliance with a 75 parts per billion smog standard would cost $7.6 billion to $8.5 billion a year and “yield health benefits valued between $2 billion and $19 billion.”
Our air
None of the counties in Washington state that are monitored appeared on the Environmental Protection Agency’s list of smog violators. The monitored counties are Clark, King, Klickitat, Pierce, Skagit, Spokane and Whatcom.
King County, with an ozone level of 0.074 parts per million, would come closest to violating the EPA’s new standards, 0.075.
