Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 5, 1995 TAG: 9503060064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium
That could mean cars would not have to undergo routine emissions tests - and gas prices would not have to rise a few cents a gallon to pay for environmentally sensitive pumps.
Local and state officials had blasted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's January proposal to give the region a worse air quality rating. The move would have led to emissions testing and put tougher rules on new and expanding businesses.
The EPA is required to reconsider any proposed rule that meets with protest, said Marcia Spink, the associate director of air programs at the agency's Philadelphia office.
EPA officials said they would review the 1990 Clean Air Act to see how much room they could give the region.
``We're trying to be more flexible,'' Spink said. ``We were not anticipating the degree of adverse comments we got.''
Spink did not say how long the EPA might take to reconsider the measure.
The Clean Air Act has drawn howls of protest from other cities that face much tougher restrictions than Hampton Roads. The EPA also has been under increasing pressure from the new Republican majority in Congress to be more flexible.
Ozone is formed at ground level when chemicals in car exhaust and factory emissions combine with sunlight. Ozone, the most prevalent industrial pollutant in the country, has been shown to cause respiratory problems.
According to state environmental regulators and local government officials, the Hampton Roads region is very close to meeting ozone standards.
But Hampton Roads violated federal air quality standards on two days in 1992 and three days in 1993 - enough violations to trigger the new rules. The law allows no more than three violations in three years.
EPA, however, was seven months late giving the region notice that it was in violation of the law. By the time EPA published the notice in January, the region had a violation-free 1994 behind it.
Art Collins, executive director of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, said federal officials should see what happens in 1995. If 1995 is without violations, the region would meet the Clean Air Act's standards, he said.
by CNB