EPA Sets Stricter Standard for Ozone.
Polluting industries will be required to do more to curb lung-damaging smog under new restrictions announced Thursday by the Obama administration, but most of the nation is projected to clean up within a decade. WASHINGTON—The Obama administration on Thursday established stricter limits on the smog-causing pollution linked to asthma and respiratory illness, drawing swift condemnation from business leaders and Republicans who warned of damage to the economy.WASHINGTON—Environmental regulators significantly lowered a national limit for a smog-causing pollutant Thursday, in an attempted compromise that left some businesses relieved and environmental and health leaders upset the initiative wasn’t stronger.
The Environmental Protection Agency said the new standard of 70 parts per billion will reduce exposure to dangerous ozone pollution and prevent thousands of asthma attacks and emergency room visits and hundreds of premature deaths each year. The move fulfils a long-delayed campaign promise by President Barack Obama as he works to cement a legacy on climate change and other environmental policies before leaving office in January 2017. If these new standards had been in place during 2011-2013, a dozen Texas counties that passed under the old standard would have been considered out of compliance.
Smog, also known as ground-level ozone, is formed by a reaction between sunlight and pollutants from car tailpipes, power plants and factories, fumes from volatile solvents and gasoline vapors. Louis area was the only region in Missouri that exceeded the old smog limits, more areas of the state may now have to take action to reduce emissions from factories and power plants or launch vehicle emission testing programs.
After pledging during his first presidential campaign to tighten ozone limits, Obama backtracked in 2011 by yanking the EPA’s proposed ozone limits amid intense pressure from industry and the GOP. But he added that the new limit “offers significantly greater protection than the previous, outdated standard.” Ozone is created by emissions such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds. Breathing even low levels can inflame the lining of the lungs and aggravate asthma and other respiratory diseases; long-term exposure can permanently scar lung tissue.
But states must comply by curbing emissions from utilities, factories, refineries and other businesses and municipalities, often by requiring new pollution-control gear. Exposure to ground-level ozone can exacerbate respiratory problems, including asthma, and is particularly harmful to children and older people, health experts say. The lower ozone limit is the latest action by the administration near the end of President Barack Obama’s time in the White House to address environmental and energy issues. A surge of abundant, low-cost natural gas and growing reliance on renewable energy is helping clean the air by pushing utilities to shut down or overhaul some of the nation’s oldest, dirtiest coal-fired power plants. Failure to meet the standards could make it harder for new industries or transportation plans to get needed federal permits unless the plans include significant reductions in air pollution.
The EPA said the ozone limit will have a compliance cost of $1.4 billion a year by 2025, not including California, which has more time to comply due to its decadeslong air-pollution issues. The EPA’s scientific advisers had cautioned that exposure to smog at the EPA’s new limit could “result in significant adverse effects,” including impaired lung development and respiratory disease. Business groups, meanwhile, generally appeared to be pleased they dodged what one called a “worst-case scenario.” But opponents still said the rule still was too tough. “The new ozone standard will inflict pain on companies that build things in America, and destroy job opportunities for American workers,” said Jay Timmons, president of the National Association of Manufacturers. Riordan said the EPA rule put “politics above job creation” and said manufacturers across the country, especially smaller ones, “will be forced to choose between navigating this rule and hiring new workers, between complying with Washington’s mandates and giving raises to their employees.” The rule issued Thursday meets a court-ordered deadline set after public health groups sued in the wake of the administration’s 2011 withdrawal of ozone rules. However, after an in-depth review of the EPA’s analysis, as well as a thorough study of the relevant scientific literature, the TCEQ has concluded that there will be little to no public health benefit from lowering the current standard.”
Obama told business leaders last month he would ensure the public-health benefits outweighed the cost. “We don’t issue a regulation where the costs are not lower than the benefits,” Mr. Automobiles are the largest source of the chemicals that form ozone, but factories, utilities, the petroleum industry and industrial solvents also contribute. “If they went to 65 or 60, this would be very challenging for a lot of communities that have never had to deal with ozone issues,” Walker said. “We’ll manage it. For instance, the 2007 air-emissions standard—in the news in regard to emission-rigging in Volkswagen VLKAY -1.58 % ’s diesel cars—was implemented in large part to help states meet a tougher ozone limit.
The EPA is issuing the final ozone standard by an Oct. 1 court deadline, compelled by a lawsuit brought by environmental and public-health groups, and after nearly a year of taking public comment on the issue. Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Dan Mehan called them “another example of regulators gone wild.”Some in Congress have proposed bills to delay or soften the rules’ impact. Bush administration. “A more stringent regulation will negatively impact economic development over a much larger portion of the country, without delivering meaningful additional health benefits,” said Nick Akins, CEO of American Electric Power, AEP -1.27 % one of the country’s largest utilities.
But some areas would have longer to reach the goals. “This wouldn’t ever be a situation that would allow a community to escape accountability of the requirements under the ozone rule,” McCaskill said in a phone interview. But Fuchs, of the Lung Association, urged McCaskill and others in Congress to leave the Clean Air Act, the landmark environmental law that contains the EPA’s rulemaking authority for ozone and a host of other pollutants, alone. “Changing that is opening up the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Air Act is a great set of tools that has been used for a long time” to bring down pollution levels, Fuchs said. The spokeswoman said the agency’s approximately 1,300 ozone monitors are placed in regions with large populations and economic development where smog forms the most.