EPA tightening limits on smog-causing ozone

“While the days are gone when cities like Los Angeles were so smoggy people had trouble seeing across the street, science tells us that ozone is still making people sick and we still have a lot of work to do”, she said.

Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) wrote in a piece for The Hill that these standards could be “the costliest regulation in history, imposing new standards that are overly burdensome, technically unattainable and deficiently demonstrative of providing any environmental or public health benefits”. “We are very concerned that a few projects – new facilities, plant expansions and factory restarts – will remain in limbo until EPA explains how to obtain a permit under the new standards”. The Clean Air Act directs the Environmental Protection Agency to limit smog, and update that limit every five years.

Janet McCabe, an acting assistant administrator for the agency, said an even lower standard is necessary to diminish the dangers of ozone pollution, including emergency room visits, thousands of asthma attacks, and even premature deaths. The lower cap would have cost industry about US$11 billion more than a 70-ppb limit but also prevent 960,000 childhood asthma attacks a year, according to the agency. “The big polluters won this time, for the most part”.

Environmentalists have countered these arguments by pointing to the conclusions of the EPA’s own scientific advisory council, which advised in June 2014 that “based on the scientific evidence, a level of 70 ppb provides little margin of safety for the protection of public health, particularly for sensitive subpopulations”.

At the top of this agenda are climate regulations, which the EPA unveiled in August at a White House event with the president.

Congressional Democrats, including Sen. “EPA needs to require and help fund the deployment of these technologies so that Southland residents can breathe healthful air”.

Primarily due to a continued cleanup in vehicle emissions from tighter standards and less polluting fuels, EPA predicts most regions of the USA will meet the new standard by 2025, Nelson said.

Still, the move prompted criticism from business executives who didn’t want the EPA to change the limit at all, and from environmental and health groups that said it wasn’t tough enough.

Business groups reacted harshly. A study from National Economic Research Associates Economic Consulting commissioned by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) warned that a 65 ppb standard would have resulted in $140 billion per year in lost gross domestic product, $1.05 trillion in compliance costs through 2040, 34 GW in accelerated coal plant retirements, and 1.4 million jobs lost across all affected sectors.

He called on the Republican-controlled Congress to block the EPA’s action.

“The new ozone standard will inflict pain on companies that build things in America-and destroy job opportunities for American workers”, said Jay Timmons, president of National Association of Manufacturers.

The issue of how to regulate smog has been debated for decades.

“So under your new ozone rule, it is likely that more counties in Wyoming, more counties around the country, will be in non-attainment, including the counties that have not yet achieved the previous level for ozone”.

“EPA’s decision to restrict the ozone standard to 70 ppb is yet another example of the Obama administration’s enthusiasm for needless regulation”, Inhofe said. Harford’s air would still be out of compliance, according to agency data.

The Obama administration has taken aggressive action under authorities in the Clean Air Act to reduce different types of emissions, including methane and carbon from power plants.

The EPA had sought to lower the ozone limits four years ago but suspended the effort in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election.