COUNTY SQUEAKS BY SMOG STANDARD

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Mar 13, 2008 | by R. SCOTT RAPPOLD

The air in El Paso County is below new smog standards issued Wednesday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency -- but just barely.

The EPA standard is 75 parts per billion for ozone. There are two monitoring stations here, and the three-year average at the one in Manitou Springs was 74. It was 73 at the Air Force Academy.

The ozone levels here have risen steadily, from 53 a decade ago. It is highest in the summer, and it would only take a few high- ozone days this year to push the county out of compliance, which could mean a return to car-emissions testing.

"We could easily find ourselves in nonattainment after this summer. It just all depends," said Rich Muzzy, environmental planning manager for the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments, the local air-quality planning agency.

The EPA expects to make decisions on nonattainment in 2010, and communities would have three years to come up with plans for reducing ozone. Air-monitoring data from 2006 to 2008 will be used.

During a news conference Wednesday, EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson touted the new standards as the most stringent ever, lowered from 84.

But it was above the standards urged by environmental groups and many of the EPA's own scientists, who wanted a limit of 60 to 70 parts per billion.

Johnson defended the decision.

"Bottom line, I adhered to the law and I certainly considered the most recent scientific evidence in the decision," Johnson said.

"It is a half-step," said Cindy Liverance, vice president of programs for the American Lung Association of Colorado. "We are very concerned and unhappy that what they are doing will weaken the Clean Air Act."

Nationwide, 345 counties are not in compliance, including all or parts of eight counties in the Denver metro area, which were in violation of the old standards, too.

A few high-ozone days at either local monitoring station could push El Paso County out of compliance.

If that happens, the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments would identify the largest sources of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide -- cars, in most communities -- and then come up with a plan to cut emissions, Muzzy said.

That could include several programs, including a return to the loathed emissions tests, which ended at the beginning of 2007 here, Muzzy said. The EPA will give communities 20 years to comply with the standards.

In the meantime, he said, people can help El Paso County stay below the standards by carpooling, driving less, not letting their cars idle and avoiding gasoline-powered lawn equipment.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-1605 or scott.rappold@gazette.com

NUMBERS

Colorado counties that do not meet the Environmental Protection Agency's new health standard for smog:

Arapahoe, Douglas, Jefferson, Weld.

EPA Numbers

The Environmental Protection Agency has said, based on various studies, that cutting smog from 80 to 75 parts per billion will prevent 900 to 1,100 premature deaths a year nationwide and will mean 1,400 fewer nonfatal heart attacks and 5,600 fewer hospital or emergency room visits. A separate study suggests that tightening the standard to 70 parts per billion could avoid as many as 3,800 premature deaths nationwide.

SOURCE: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS