By Brett Rosenberg
March 24, 2008

In a contentious move, the Environmental Protection Agency on March 12 officially strengthened regulations governing ground level ozone, the main ingredient in smog. Ozone forms when heat and sunlight effectively cook a mixture of chemicals known as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, which come from vehicle tailpipes, industrial smokestacks and solvents. Exposure to ozone pollution is linked to a variety of significant health problems ranging from aggravated asthma to premature death in people with heart and lung ailments. Children, people with weak immune systems and the elderly are especially at risk to the adverse affects of ozone pollution. Furthermore, ozone can damage trees, crops and other plants.

The agency strengthened the previous 8-hour primary standard, which addresses the pollutant’s impact on public health, from 0.084 parts per million (ppm) to 0.075 ppm. Ozone concentrations are measured via a system of monitoring and detection equipment situated throughout the country. According to the EPA, “an area will meet the revised standards if the three-year average of the annual fourth-highest daily maximum 8-hour average at every ozone monitor is less than or equal to the level of the standard.”

Current data and models indicate that 345 counties currently do not meet the new 0.075 ppm standard. EPA estimates that by 2020, only 22 counties will not meet the standard, while ongoing local, state, and federal level programs will move the others within compliance. Currently, 85 counties, the jurisdictional basis for monitoring data, do not yet meet the 0.084 ppm standard, which was last updated in 1997.

Barring further impediments to implementing the standards, states must make recommendations to EPA no later than March 2009 for areas to be designated attainment, nonattainment and unclassifiable. These recommendations will most likely be based on 2006 – 2008 monitoring data. EPA will then issue final designations of attainment, nonattainment and unclassifiable areas no later than March 2010, unless there is insufficient information to make these designation decisions. In that case, EPA will issue designations no later than March 2011. States must submit State Implementation Plans outlining how they will reduce pollution to meet the standards by a date that EPA will establish in a separate rule. That date will be no later than three years after EPA’s final designations. If EPA issues designations in 2010, then these plans would be due no later than 2013. EPA will issue a separate rule to address monitoring requirements necessary to implement the new standards. EPA intends to propose a monitoring rule in June 2008 and issue a final rule by March 2009.

The EPA’s action is particularly controversial because it largely ignored the recommendations of its own Clean Air Act Scientific Advisory Board. The board proposed that new scientific and health studies warrant a standard in the 60 – 70 ppm range. Citing major improvements in national air quality over the past few decades, as well as a suite of other recently enacted air regulations, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson stated, “America’s air is cleaner today than it was a generation ago. By meeting the requirement of the Clean Air Act and strengthening the national standard for ozone, EPA is keeping our clean air progress moving forward.”

The EPA also revised what it refers to as a secondary standard for ozone, meant to protect trees and other vegetation, especially during the summer months when heat and sunlight can create dangerous ozone levels. The secondary standard was set at 0.75 ppm, the same as the primary standard, to be measured in the same manner.

There are reports asserting that the White House intervened on the decision to revise the secondary standard at the last minute. Historically, secondary standards, meant to protect public welfare and the environment, have been set at more restrictive levels than the primary public health standard. However, the EPA which was under a statutory deadline to issue its primary and secondary ozone standards by March 12, unexpectedly set both standards at the same level at the President’s request, essentially creating a single standard to protect both long and short-term public health and welfare.

Predictably, health environmental groups have weighed in on the decision, assailing the EPA for ignoring its own group of scientific advisors and new studies showing the need for even more stringent ozone regulations and further jeopardizing human heath and welfare. Industry groups have chimed in as well, voicing concerns that the new ozone standards are overly stringent and based on incomplete science and do not account for the economic burdens of implementation.

EPA estimates that the final standards will yield health benefits valued between $2 billion and $19 billion. Those benefits include preventing cases of bronchitis, aggravated asthma, hospital and emergency room visits, nonfatal heart attacks and premature death, among others. EPA’s Regulatory Impact analysis shows that benefits are likely greater than the cost of implementing the standards. While the Clean Air Act and a Supreme Court decision prevent the EPA from considering costs when issuing environmental regulations, it estimates they will range from $7.6 billion to $8.5 billion.

The implementation schedule for the revised standards requires state recommendations for attainment and nonattainment designations by November 2007; EPA designations will be due by November 2009; designations take effect April 2010; State Implementation Plans will be due three years after designation (April 2013); and states need to attain the standards by April 2015, with a possible extension to 2020. Typically, cities work with metropolitan planning organizations, counties and state governments to implement policies to achieve air quality goals.