New EPA regs may impact region's development

Toledo Business Journal, Apr 01, 2004

On April 15th, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is scheduled to sign an administrative rule that will designate specific counties around the country that are not in compliance with new ozone emissions requirements. The new requirements change the way emissions are measured and significantly reduce the permissible ozone concentration limits. Under these new regulations, Ohio EPA has recommended that US EPA designate 33 counties, including Lucas and Wood in northwest Ohio, as "nonattainment" areas. In December 2003, US EPA responded to Ohio EPA's recommendation with a preliminary indication that it wants 34 Ohio counties designated as nonattainment areas. US EPA has also indicated that it wants to group metropolitan counties together, which will make compliance more difficult to achieve. While the final designation will not be published until April 15th, US EPA has targeted Lucas and Wood counties as nonattainment areas.

Separately, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has recommended that 17 Michigan counties be designated as nonattainment areas. Included are Monroe and Lenawee counties, which border northwest Ohio. In December 2003, US EPA responded to Michigan's recommendation with a preliminary indication that it wants 8 additional counties designated as nonattainment or 25 counties in total. Both Monroe and Lenawee counties are on US EPA's target list as nonattainment areas.

Major changes are also under way involving particulate emission regulations, however, the ozone emission standards will remain the focus of this article. Potential impact on regional economic development will be examined in this article. Environmental impact of the new regulations, potential results involving urban sprawl, and other social and economic issues will be addressed in a later assessment.

Counties around the country that are designated as "nonattainment" areas for these new ozone emission standards may face significant consequences in terms of economic development, explained Eileen Granata, Regional Growth Partnership (ROP) interim chief operating officer. Manufacturing companies seeking to expand existing facilities or build new facilities in a nonattainment area will face indefinite delays in the permitting process and undetermined and uncertain capital costs for environmental and process control equipment according to Granata.

RGP has been monitoring this situation and has been working to alert decision-makers in the region. RGP has assisted the preparation of this article in an effort to raise increased awareness of this issue.

"Designation as a nonattainment area will make it very difficult to attract new industry to Wood County," stated Tom Blaha, executive director of Wood County Economic Development Commission (WCEDC). Blaha explained that many corporations are now using site selection consultants to assist the process of locating new facilities. A county that is designated as a nonattainment area on air quality standards is a virtual certain elimination by site selection consultants from consideration for new industrial investment, according to Blaha.

EPA implementation

In a series of interviews with officials at US EPA, Toledo Business Journal was advised that the agency is in the process of issuing guidelines and rules to implement the new air quality environmental regulations. Designation of specific counties around the country as nonattainment areas, or areas that do not meet the new ozone requirements, is scheduled on April 15th as part of a court ordered consent decree.

"We had planned to issue a set of implementation rules prior to designation of the nonattainment areas," stated the EPA's Denise Gerth. "However, this process is taking longer than anticipated and we still hope to have these implementation rules published sometime in April." EPA had previously indicated that these rules would be published in December 2003.

Gerth further explained that the implementation rules will describe how specific areas are classified under the new regulations, how a transition from the old regulations to the new regulations will take place, dates for attainment of the new regulations, and many other issues that businesses will face in nonattainment counties.

History

It has been almost seven years since US EPA established new National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for both ozone and particulate matter in July 1997. EPA's 1997 actions in adopting the new standards were challenged in court. In February 2001, the US Supreme Court upheld the EPA's actions in setting the NAAQS. Other issues related to EPA's authority under the Clean Air Act were remanded to D.C. Circuit Court. In March 2002, D.C. Circuit Court rejected all remaining challenges to the ozone and fine particulate standards. The agency has been in the process of implementing the new standards following this lengthy litigation.

The revised primary ozone standard lowered the ozone concentration limit from 0. 12 parts per million (ppm) measured over one hour to 0.08 ppm measured over 8 hours. To attain this standard, the 3-year average of the fourthhighest daily maximum 8-hour average of continuous ambient air monitoring data over each year must not exceed 0.08 ppm. State and local authorities will continue to monitor air quality under both, the previous 1-hour and new 8-hour standards, until the elimination or phase-out of the 1-hour standard.