Proposed new air quality standards for ozone tough for Texas
By Vicki Wolf, September 2007

EPA recently held hearings about its plan to set new air quality standards for ground-level ozone, the main component of smog, to better protect public health and the environment. The hearings were held in five of the country’s smoggiest cities: Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Chicago. The EPA proposes lowering the ozone limit from the current level of 84 parts per billion of air in a range between 70 and 75 parts per billion. The agency’s scientists say the ozone limit should be even lower -- 60 to 70 parts per billion to be safe.

Houston has not attained the EPA limit of ozone and has an extension to 2019 from the EPA to meet the current limit, set in 1997. Eight counties in Texas exceed the 8-hour ozone limit. Seven-teen counties are close to being in non-attainment.

At the Houston hearings, environmentalists spoke in favor of strict standards; City of Houston representative, Elena Marks, said the city would support recommendations of the EPA’s scien-tific experts. “The advisory panel, made of up of 23 scientists who understand air, toxicology and health effects, collectively said that the new standard needs to be a good bit lower. Their opinion is fact based on scientific certainty,” Marks says. “When a panel of 23 scientists agree one needs to pay attention. These recommendations are not politics but scientific solution.”

Industry representatives argued against setting new ozone limits, and said current levels are good enough to protect public health. Along with TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Qual-ity), industry representatives questioned the link between asthma and ground level ozone. American Petroleum Institute’s Director of Policy Analysis Kyle Iskowaer also noted that meet-ing new EPA air quality standards would involve costs to consumers. “The proposed new stan-dard will impose real costs on real people, but may very well fail to provide a commensurate benefit.”

Ana Hernandez, state representative for District 143., testified at the hearing on behalf of the Legislative Environmental Caucus. “The experts say ozone levels should be at 60 parts per bil-lion (ppb) to be safe and the Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that when the EPA looks at current level and makes recommendations, the sole factor they can look at is protecting of public health,” Hernandez says. “The Environmental Legislative Caucus supports the scientific advisory recommendation of 60 ppb to protect public health with a reasonable margin for safety.”

Hernandez says she also testified out of concern for the people who live in her community. She lives in and represents District 143 that includes the area where Loop 610 intersects 225 and in-cludes both sides of the Houston Ship Channel. “A study by The University of Texas Health Sci-ence Center two years ago showed that the Ship Channel has 120-200 parts per billion of ozone when downtown levels are 40 to 90.”

Ozone attacks and destroys cells and tissue in the lungs causing inflammation and making breathing more difficult. It aggravates bronchitis, emphysema and asthma. Ozone exposure may even cause asthma, according to a study reported in the medical journal, Lancet. Researchers as-sessed risk of asthma in children playing team sports in communities with high ozone, low ozone and in communities with other air pollutants concluded that “incidence of new diagnoses of asthma is associated with heavy exercise in communities with high concentrations of ozone, thus, air pollution and outdoor exercise could contribute to the development of asthma in chil-dren.”

The American Lung Association estimates that more than six million children under 18 have asthma. Asthma is the third leading cause of hospitalization among children under the age of 15, and it is the most prevalent chronic condition among children. In 1999, there were about 658,000 pediatric emergency room visits due to asthma.

Repeated exposure to ozone can permanently scar lung tissue. Children playing outdoors, joggers and people working outdoors are at risk of serious health problems in areas with high ozone. Studies show that there are more heart attacks and premature deaths on high ozone days.

Unfortunately, the perfect day for outdoor activities – a day with clear blue skies, calm winds and warm temperatures – is also the perfect day for ground-level ozone to develop. The sunlight (UV rays) and heat act as a catalyst for nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from petrochemical plants, refineries and automobile emissions in the air to create ozone.

According to the EPA, the proposed revisions would strengthen the standards to increase public health protection and prevent environmental damage from ground-level ozone.

To effectively begin to tackle bringing ozone levels down, Sierra Club Air Quality Director Neil Carman suggests creating a regional air authority and putting all of East Texas in non-attainment. “The whole eastern air shed from I35 corridor should be declared in non-attainment,” Carman says. He notes that already there are nine counties in the Houston area, three in Beaumont and nine in Dallas that do not meet current standards. With the EPA’s new ozone limits, Waco, Aus-tin and San Antonio are likely to be in non-attainment.

Carman also suggests putting more dollars into public transit and less into roads. He says it is an uphill battle to get Texas and the federal government to support a major effort toward mass tran-sit because of powerful lobbying efforts by the road building industry. “The highway lobby in-cludes road builders, sand, concrete and asphalt companies. Texas Department of Transportation is run by the highway lobby,” Carman says. “The oil industry doesn’t like mass transit because it means fewer people driving cars. Even the airlines are against it,” he adds.

The EPA plans for the air quality standard for ground-level ozone to take effect in 2010. State Implementation Plans (SIPs) would be due in 2013. Attainment would be required between 2013 and 2030 depending on severity of the problem and area has in achieving attainment.

The EPA is accepting written comments regarding the ozonestandard until October 9, 2007. Comments can be submitted via email to: a-and-r-docket@epa.gov. Reference Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2005-0172. Send copies to your elected officials and Members of Congress.