The Obama Administration announced it would review the revised ozone standard of .75 ppb that was previously established by the Bush Administration. The Obama Administration has said if they decide to revise the ozone standard below .75 ppb they will announce it by December of 2009 and finalize the standard by August 2010.
As reported in the article, other actions make it appear almost certain that U.S. EPA will revise the standard lower.
The Justice Department, in a brief filed Wednesday in a federal appeals court, went further, saying that the EPA believes the revision made by the Bush administration does not adhere to federal air pollution law. The brief is part of a lawsuit by environmental groups against the Bush-era rule.
The news of a much tighter ozone standard follows great news for Northeast Ohio that it had achieved the original 8-hour standard of .85 ppb (see, Improving Air Quality Great News for Cleveland Business) This past week U.S. EPA announced it was granting Ohio’s request to redesignate Northeast Ohio Counties (Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage and Summit) attainment .
An "attainment" status has significant benefits to a community trying to re-build its economy. It is much easier for businesses looking to relocate or expand to obtain the air permits they will need. Unfortunately, if the standard is reset to something like .70 ppb, Northeast Ohio brief attainment window will close and it will be facing a tremendous obstacle to see an "attainment" status anytime in the near future.
The above chart is the monitoring data from Ohio EPA’s air pollution control plan submitted to U.S. EPA. It shows the Ashtabula monitor is averaging 84.3 ppb, just slightly below the .85 ppb current standard. But very, very far away from a possible .70 ppb. As the Ashtabula monitor goes, so does all the counties in Northeast Ohio. All eight counties will be in non-attainment if the Ashtabula monitor is not below .70 ppb.
Rather than focus on the economic costs of a revised standard or the difficulty of obtaining that standard, the Cleveland Plain Dealer focused on the future of E-check:
But it doesn’t mean that you won’t have to E-check your car anymore. Ohio has renewed its contract with Envirotest Systems to conduct the unpopular – though free to drivers – emission tests through June 2011.
Such a limited focus fails to recognize the wider implications of the tighter ozone standard. Businesses that are located outside "non-attainment counties" should pay attention as well. In what has become a re-occurring theme on this blog, tighter ozone standards will have a dramatic impact on the cost of electricity for coal dependent states.
Roughly 1/3 of all ozone causing pollutants are attributable to coal-fired power plants. In fact, the progress in achieving the old standard was in large part attributable to federal control programs requiring reductions of these pollutants (NOx SIP Call and CAIR). To achieve much tighter ozone standards, U.S. EPA will be forced once again to look to tightening emission requirements for coal plants. Tighter emission requirements translates to higher compliance costs passed on to utility customers.
Ohio really needs to focusing intently on diversifying its energy portfolio to mitigate these increases. Otherwise, businesses will be looking toward escalating operating costs making Ohio businesses non-competitive. If you are a business who has opportunities to generate your own power, it would be a strategic advantage to give serious consideration to those plans.