DATE: Saturday, August 2, 1997              TAG: 9708020266
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A11  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   52 lines

NEW POLLUTION LIMITS MAY LEAD TO CONTROLS AND TESTS

Tough new limits on smog and fine dust would put 52 of Virginia's 136 localities - including all Hampton Roads cities - under a federal edict to reduce air pollution, preliminary figures compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency show.

Under federal law, Virginia will have to devise plans to reduce pollution in localities on the list. That could mean new controls on industries and perhaps a requirement for car emissions tests.

The list should come as no surprise to Hampton Roads officials.

Dwight Farmer, transportation director for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, has said an analysis by his staff found that the region would violate the new air standards 11 times a year.

The EPA prepared the list at the request of the House Commerce Committee. Rep. Thomas J. Bliley Jr., R-7th and chairman of the committee, gave the list to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Bliley is pushing legislation to block the new pollution limits.

EPA officials said the list given to Bliley is not the official list, but a rough estimate prepared because lawmakers asked for it.

The EPA on July 18 issued stricter limits for ozone - the main pollutant in smog - and fine particles such as dust and soot.

The new limits will be phased in early in the next century. Until then, pollution monitors across the country will measure the levels of ozone and fine dust in the air.

Localities where pollution exceeds the limits will go on the revised dirty-air list and be forced to clean up.

While pollution levels over the next three years will determine the official list, the tentative EPA list was based on pollution levels over the last few years. The final list will almost certainly be different because pollution levels in the coming years should improve, said EPA scientist Kristeen Gaffney.

For example, the air will get better as people trade in their old clunkers for new, less-polluting cars. Virginia could also benefit if neighboring states clean up, reducing the amount of pollution that drifts across the border.

Complying with the new air-pollution limits could cost factories and motorists millions of dollars in the Richmond area alone, business leaders said.

The EPA said the new limits would save lives and reduce trips to the hospital for asthmatics and others with lung problems. Public health advocates said the benefits will exceed the costs.

``I think people want to breathe healthy air,'' said Donna Reynolds, regional director for the American Lung Association of Virginia.

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