Alabama beats new smog restrictions, Birmingham area just barely

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it was tightening restrictions on ground-level ozone, or smog, setting the maximum allowable average concentration of ozone at 70 parts per billion.

Jefferson County Department of Health meteorologist Matt Lacke said the county's three-year average ozone level from 2012-2014 is exactly 70 ppb, the highest level allowable without mandated corrective action.

"Our three-year average through 2014 is exactly at 70, and you have to be at 71 to not be in compliance," Lacke said. "Our preliminary numbers for 2015 are showing us to be below 70 when you incorporate the 2015 data."

The Jefferson County Department of Health is the agency responsible for enforcement of the Clean Air Act in the county. The Alabama Department of Environmental Management administers the law throughout most of the rest of the state.

Ron Gore, chief of ADEM's air division, said all measured counties in the state are below the 70 ppb threshold.

"Our highest monitor is in the Birmingham area, and it reads 68," Gore said. "Our assessment is it's very unlikely we would have any areas over 70, even if we have weather that is conducive to forming ozone."

Gore said ADEM has 20 air monitors throughout the state that can be moved depending on where they expect to get the highest readings. Jefferson County had the highest ozone concentrations in the state, followed by Shelby County.

States with counties above the limit would be forced to implement plans to decrease ozone levels under the Clean Air Act. The three-year average from 2014-2016 will be calculated in 2017 to determine compliance.

"If we were to be deemed non-compliant, then (JCDH) would work with ADEM to put together a state implementation plan," Lacke said. "We don't anticipate having to do one of those since we would be already in compliance with the standard."

Ozone is not emitted directly, but formed when nitrogen oxide (NO) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) mix in the atmosphere in the presence of sunlight. Both NO and VOCs are released by industrial operations and vehicle emissions. VOCs can also come from chemical products like solvents.

Ozone, while beneficial in upper levels of the atmosphere, has been shown to harm people's health in the lower atmosphere. The EPA says the updated standards will improve public health, particularly for at risk groups including children, older adults, and people of all ages who have lung diseases such as asthma.

"Put simply - ozone pollution means it hurts to breathe for those most vulnerable: our kids, our elderly and those suffering from heart and lung ailments," EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said in a news release. "Our job is to set science-backed standards that protect the health of the American people. Today's action is one of the most important measures we can take for improving public health, reducing the costs of illness and protecting our children's health."

Jefferson County's ozone concentration has continued a downward trend in recent years, Lacke said. The three-year average from 2011-2013 was 76 ppb, and the ozone level reached a peak three-year average of 102 ppb from 1998-2000.

The trend in the Birmingham area is mirrored across the state and the country.

"(Ozone decline) has been beyond our wildest dreams," Gore said. "Ozone levels have dropped like a rock in the last 10 to 15 years."

Gore attributed the ozone decrease to EPA-mandated pollution control measures on power plants and greater efficiency in new vehicles.

"Ten years ago, the EPA standard was 85 parts per billion, and we had counties that weren't meeting that," Gore said.

The limits were set at 75 ppb in 2008 under the Bush Administration and at 70 on Thursday.

According to EPA, ozone levels nationally have decreased by a third since 1980, and most counties outside of California currently over the 70 ppb threshold are expected to attain compliance by 2025 without additional action.

Standards could have been tougher

The new limits are down from the current level of 75 ppb, but not as stringent as some air quality and environmental groups had hoped. When EPA proposed the lower standards last year, the agency said it would consider setting the limit at 65 ppb and heard public comments on a 60 ppb level. The American Lung Association and other groups advocated for a standard of 60 ppb.

If the standard had been set at 65 ppb, Madison, Morgan, Mobile, Baldwin, and DeKalb Counties could have had compliance issues. Those counties showed levels more than 65 ppb from 2011-2013, according to the EPA web site which did not include the 2014 data. Montgomery, Russell, and Colbert Counties averaged exactly 65 ppb from 2011-2013. Jefferson County's average ozone level from 2011-2013 was 76 ppb, and Shelby's was 73.

Some business and manufacturing groups protested tightening the standard at all.

"This Administration continues to demand more restrictive rules and regulations that hamstring business, stymie job growth, and do irreparable harm to our economy," Business Council of Alabama President William J. Canary said in a news release. "The Business Council of Alabama advocates basing environmental regulation on sound scientific study and providing safeguards to the environment without hindering economic development or imposing undue regulations on the business community."

According an EPA fact sheet, the agency "examined thousands of scientific studies in this review of the ozone standards, including more than 1,000 new studies published since EPA last revised the standards in 2008."

EPA estimates that meeting the 70 ppb standards will yield public health benefits "estimated at $2.9 to 5.9 billion annually in 2025 and outweighing estimated costs of $1.4 billion." Those benefits include fewer asthma attacks, premature deaths, missed work and school days. Children and teenagers are more at risk from ozone because their lungs are not fully developed.

Keith Johnston, managing attorney in Birmingham for the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the measure was "incremental progress."

"We're happy that they've dropped the levels, and I think it shows that the Clean Air Act is working," Johnston said. "Every time something like this is announced you have people say it's going to destroy the economy and have this traumatic effect, but it's shown that health has gotten better and our economy keeps getting better.

"Clean air and a healthy economy are not mutually exclusive."

*Correction: An earlier version of this post stated the three-year average concentration of ozone in Jefferson County from 2011-2013 was 73 ppb. The correct measurement is 76 ppb. The most recent three-year average figure from 2012-2014 is 70 ppb according to the Jefferson County Department of Health.

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