THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 17, 1996 TAG: 9610170633
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 89 lines
For the third straight summer, Hampton Roads did not experience a single hour of excessive smog - meaning that residents from Chesapeake to Williamsburg have breathed relatively clean air this year.
That's the good news.
But the same smog levels that resulted in a zero-violation summer could put Hampton Roads back into trouble with the federal government under the new clean-air standard proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In a meeting Wednesday in Newport News, regional leaders learned of the EPA's plan to toughen its definition of ``excessive smog.''
Hampton Roads would likely fail to meet this new standard. So would Richmond, parts of North Carolina, and much of the Northeast and Midwest, said Dwight Farmer, transportation director for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.
``The implications are quite dramatic,'' Farmer said.
He noted how failure to comply with federal smog standards can mean environmental restrictions on local business and industry, and mandatory tailpipe inspections for area car and truck owners.
The EPA proposed its new standard this summer. But it could take as long as two years before the public, lawmakers and lobbyists have their say on the matter and the standard goes into effect, Farmer said.
He doubted that the EPA would levy stiff sanctions, such as mandatory tailpipe inspections, as part of its new definition of clean air. Rather, Farmer said, the EPA might be willing to let dirty-air regions try their own solutions before imposing penalties.
Hampton Roads has been hampered by bad timing in its battle against smog, a respiratory irritant produced when fumes from cars, power plants, paints and solvents mix chemically under intense sunlight. And the news Wednesday was no exception.
The region has labored six years to curb smog levels so that it could ask to be removed from the EPA's list of dirty-air cities. Being on the list carries the threat of government sanctions if air quality does not improve, and it hardly endears companies that are looking to relocate and bring jobs.
Earlier this year, just as Hampton Roads was preparing to petition the EPA, regional leaders learned that Gov. George F. Allen forgot to name a required special committee to oversee the petitioning process.
The blunder was quickly corrected, but it meant that Hampton Roads had to weather another summer and hope that smog readings did not push the region out of compliance with federal rules. They did not.
Now, just as it appears that Hampton Roads will indeed be removed from the national list, the EPA is proposing to toughen its ozone standard, a change that would likely put the region back on the list.
The current ceiling is .12 parts per million of ozone. A violation occurs if that ceiling is exceeded for one hour at one of three monitoring stations in the region.
Farmer said Hampton Roads smog readings were .11 parts per million on several occasions this summer - a violation under the proposed new rule but acceptable under the existing one.
The EPA is mulling over a standard of between 0.07 and 0.09 parts per million, averaged over eight hours, according to Farmer and the American Lung Association, which supports the change.
``In addition to reduced lung function, research on the effects of long-term exposure (6 1/2 hours at .08 ppm), found inflammation of the lung lining, more frequent and severe respiratory problems, and in animals, increased susceptibility to pneumonia,'' the Lung Association of Virginia says in a fact sheet on ozone.
People with chronic bronchitis, emphysema and asthma are even more at risk, the Lung Association says; more than 340,000 Virginians suffer from these ailments.
Indeed, the Lung Association is urging the EPA to get even tougher. The association wants a standard of .07 parts per million, said Ron White, deputy director of national programs in Washington.
``The evidence is overwhelming'' that the current .12 parts per million standard still causes problems for even young, healthy adults, under prolonged exposure, White said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
CURRENT STANDARD
The EPA's definition of ``excessive smog'' is 0.12 parts per
million of ozone. A violation occurs if that ceiling is exceeded for
one hour.
IN HAMPTON ROADS
For the third year in a row, Hampton Roads has been under the
EPA's ceiling. The region had several smog readings of 0.11 parts
per million.
PROPOSED STANDARD
The EPA may change its standard to between 0.07 and 0.09 parts
per million, averaged over eight hours.
KEYWORDS: AIR POLLUTION by CNB