Standards change, but region's air still dirty

By David Steinkraus

Friday, April 16, 2004 12:00 AM CDT

The federal government released its new standards for ozone pollution in the air and its list of noncomplying counties Thursday, but Wisconsin citizens won't see any effect for a while.

Racine County's air quality doesn't comply with the new standard, just as it didn't comply with the old. The state, which oversees air quality for all counties, has three years to prepare its compliance plan.

There will be another two years for implementation of the plan, and the new rules allow for deadline extensions. This part of Wisconsin has to comply with the ozone rule in June 2010.

Ozone is a gas that typically forms on hot summer days from the action of the sun on pollutants such as those from auto engines. The gas can irritate lungs and eyes and contributes to respiratory illnesses.

The seven counties of Southeastern Wisconsin rate "moderate" under the new ozone standard, which has six levels. The Los Angeles area has the biggest ozone problem under the new standard.

The list, from the Environmental Protection Agency, added more than 200 counties to the places that previously violated ozone limits. In Wisconsin, Door, Kewaunee, and Manitowoc counties were rated low in ozone, and Sheboygan was rated moderate. Those four counties had complied with the old ozone standard, said Lloyd Eagan, director of the state Department of Natural Resources Air Management Bureau.

Now the rules have changed. "This is a good news-sort of bad news deal," Eagan said. "The good news is the air quality's better. The bad news is it's not better enough."

The plan Work on the EPA's new standard began in 1997 when the agency proposed the new eight-hour standard. The previous ozone standard measured the concentration of the gas in one hour; the new limit is a lower concentration over eight hours.

When the EPA proposed its rule, industry groups took it to court, delaying the new standard until now.

The change was based on health. "Some of the new studies were showing that it's not those peak highs that are of most concern - and it's not to ignore those - but what they were finding is that there were significant health impacts with exposure to lower levels over a longer time," said Cheryl Newton of the EPA. She is associate director of the Air and Radiation Division for EPA's Region 5, which includes Wisconsin. "And so that's why it's such a concern for children who are outside or people who work in outdoor kinds of businesses, because they have that long exposure."

Health here If the new standards were met, said Marc Looze, clean air campaign director for Clean Wisconsin, Racine County could annually avoid 599 asthma attacks, 870 lost school days, nine hospital admissions for respiratory illness, and 2,277 cases of acute respiratory symptoms. Those numbers, he said, come from a study by Abt Associates, a consulting firm which has done analytical work for the EPA.

We have the ability to remedy our ozone problems, Looze said. It's too bad, he said, that so many years will elapse until the rules are implemented. "It's really the political will that needs to be strengthened in order for us to deliver on those clean air benefits as quickly as possible," he said. There are very real consequences to delaying - not just health effects but also restrictions on business.

It's not taking too long; states need time to prepare their plans, said Bharat Mathur, acting regional administrator of EPA Region 5. EPA is trying to accelerate rule reform while retaining national economic competitiveness, he said.

The new ozone rule builds on reductions from earlier regulations, and there will be progress in reducing ozone pollution even while states are planning, Mathur said. That planning will include considering the effects of new federal rules and what other states are doing, said Eagan. Illinois already has tougher standards on its power plants, for example, because of complaints from states downwind. And Wisconsin's pollution will now be considered by Michigan, parts of which are in violation of the new eight-hour ozone rule, she said.

It will be a challenge meeting the new standard, Eagan said. Wisconsin has not been able to do much planning because EPA hasn't yet specified what will be allowed. But the technology is available to meet the standard, she said, and, like modernizing power plants, all we need is the will to do it.

* A bill signed into law by Gov. Jim Doyle means that owners of 2003 model-year vehicles in southeast Wisconsin can skip their vehicle emissions tests this year, the state Department of Transporation announced Thursday.

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