THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 6, 1997 TAG: 9702060356
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 74 lines
Hampton Roads was declared safe from smog pollution Wednesday, a ruling that should remove an ugly and unsettling stigma that the region suffers from poor air quality.
Local officials cheered the long-awaited announcement from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, saying the decision would help lure new business and industry to the area and boost the image of Hampton Roads as a clean, healthy place to live and work.
``We should all feel good about this,'' said Art Collins, executive director of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, which has labored for two years to obtain the smog-safe designation.
If approved after a 45-day comment period, as expected, the new designation would spur several key practical changes:
Expensive environmental restrictions would be lifted on new or expanding businesses that emit smog-causing pollutants. This change is what local officials cite in predicting new industries moving to the region.
Residents would no longer face the threat of mandatory vehicle-emissions tests, which often are required in areas where smog levels are not remedied.
The Navy would be cleared to accept more fighter jets at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach. Congressional delegates from Virginia have been especially interested in seeing the jets arrive, and they have pressed the EPA to declare Hampton Roads a smog-clean region in order to complete the moves.
Local officials cautioned, however, that Hampton Roads should not feel too good about the changes. They noted that the EPA has proposed new and tougher standards for smog which, if adopted, would likely land Hampton Roads on a national list of smog-troubled cities again.
Those standards, favored by health experts and many environmentalists, face fierce opposition from business leaders, local government officials and an anti-regulatory Congress. Some have predicted that the final standards, if they survive at all, would not be implemented for at least a year, and perhaps longer.
``This could be a short-lived victory,'' cautioned Frank Daniel, regional director of the state Department of Environmental Quality, which tracks air pollution in Hampton Roads. ``To me, the big question is what will happen with these new standards. We could end up right where we started.''
Smog is the common name for ground ozone, which results when chemical emissions from cars, boats, power plants, paints and solvents mix under intense sunlight, usually in summer. The byproduct is a colorless gas that irritates the lungs, and can lead to respiratory illness.
In urging tighter standards, health groups such as the American Lung Association predict a significant decrease in cases of asthma, chronic bronchitis and labored breathing, especially among infants and the elderly.
Hampton Roads has not experienced a day of excessive smog for three straight years - a key fact that led the EPA to recommend Wednesday that the seven-city region, from Williamsburg to Chesapeake, be dropped from its list of smog-troubled areas, federal officials said in explaining the decision.
The ruling would not change the sale of more expensive, reformulated gasoline at many local service stations. The continued use of the cleaner-burning fuel is a key component of state plans to keep Hampton Roads in compliance with the Clean Air Act for the next 10 years.
Failure to comply with the national law over the next decade could put the region back on the EPA's list of smoggy cities.
But in its plan, prepared by state environmental regulators, Virginia has shown on paper that smog levels will not increase over the next 10 years even with projected increases in the number of cars and industries streaming into Hampton Roads.
The region was placed on the EPA list in 1991. It was declared a ``marginal'' smog area, meaning that pollution levels barely exceeded federal standards. Los Angeles and Houston are among the cities with the worst air pollution levels.
Richmond was declared a ``moderate'' smog area, or one step worse than Hampton Roads. The capital also is seeking removal from EPA's list, citing few smog violations in recent years. EPA officials said Wednesday that Richmond's application is still under review.
KEYWORDS: ENVIRONMENT EPA SMOG POLLUTION