Smog rules could push development rural
Posted on March 14, 2008
Filed Under EPA, Indiana, News |
The federal government’s new smog standards could push industrial development in Indiana away from its urban areas and into rural counties — or out of the state altogether, an industry official said Thursday.
Environmental activists, however, said the stricter ozone standard announced Wednesday doesn’t go nearly far enough to protect the public from dense, eye-stinging summertime smog that makes it hard for the elderly, children and others to breathe.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new rules lower its eight-hour standard for ground-level ozone — smog’s primary ingredient — from 84 parts per billion to 75 parts per billion.
State environmental officials said the new standard could cause 24 Indiana counties to be designated as being in “nonattainment,” based on more recent data from 2005-07.
But pollution-control programs that have helped most of Indiana’s counties come into compliance with the earlier standard could help all but nine of those 24 counties meet the new standard as early as next year, said Amy Hartsock, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
“We would like people to know that counties have worked hard to get into attainment, and that opens more doors for more job growth and economic development. Now, just when many counties have reached attainment, the bar is being moved, so it’s disappointing in that regard,” she said.
Counties eventually deemed in nonattainment of the new standard will face restrictions on economic growth from industries and certain businesses that require air permits.
For now, it’s too early to know the new standard’s impact on the state’s industries and future economic development, said Patrick Bennett, the Indiana Manufacturers Association’s vice president of environment, energy and infrastructure.
But he said the tougher standard could drive manufacturers toward rural areas and away from urban areas that don’t meet the new health-based federal rule.
“They’ll shift production to an area where attainment is not an issue — either in areas in Indiana that are in attainment or another state where attainment is not an issue,” Bennett said.
“The production will go to the point of least resistance, ultimately, and in some cases that could be overseas.”
Environmental activists had hoped for an even lower threshold than 75 parts per billion for ozone, much of which is released by cars, lawnmowers and factories and then cooks under the summer sun to form smog.
Two of the EPA’s scientific advisory panels had told the agency that limits of 60 parts per billion to 70 parts per billion were needed to protect the nation’s most vulnerable citizens, especially children, the elderly and people with asthma and other respiratory illnesses.
Janet McCabe, who directs the Indianapolis-based advocacy group Improving Kids’ Environment, said she was disappointed but not surprised that the EPA had gone with the top of the ozone level range recommended by its advisers.
She said an even lower threshold level — such as 60 parts per billion — would have done more to protect Hoosiers with respiratory problems.
“Since asthma is the largest chronic disease in Indiana, I think we should be doing everything we can to minimize or reduce air pollution like ozone and smog that can trigger asthma attacks or increase their severity,” McCabe said.
She said Indiana’s large cities, like Indianapolis, should also continue working on efforts, such as mass transit systems, that can help cut the pollution sources that release ozone.
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