Organizations threaten lawsuit against E.P.A.

Organizations threaten lawsuit against E.P.A.

Ed Hooper
Star Journal staff writer

GATLINBURG – Environmental and health groups in the southeast say they are going to file suit against the Environmental Protection Agency to force new national health standards for ozone, which many local environmentalists claim is harming the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

The groups, which include the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Alabama Environmental Council, American Lung Association, Sierra Club and the Environmental Defense and Natural Resources Defense Council plan to sue the EPA to force the agency to begin implementing the stricter eight-hour ozone standard adopted by the agency five years ago.

"As we enter the summer smog season," said Assistant Executive Director of the American Lung Association of Florida Brenda Olsen, "It's high time for the EPA to stop foot dragging and take prompt action to protect our health from the dangers of ozone smog."

The organizations have called on the EPA to formally identify parts of the nation with unhealthy air quality. They claim across the southeast there are 59 cities and counties with monitors that currently violate the eight-hour standard. The American Lung Association estimates that in these southeastern areas more than 23 million people are exposed to unhealthy levels of ozone pollution. According to reports, the EPA's own studies show more than 120 million people live in areas with unhealthy ozone levels.

The environmentalists claim the ozone standard was improved in 1997 in response to a compelling body of scientific evidence that many of the nation's citizens suffer harmful health effects from exposure to ozone levels present today in many communities. They say enforcement of the standards has been delayed by lawsuits filed by big polluters, including coal, oil, chemical, trucking and electric power industries.

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected the industry's arguments against the new standards in Feb. 2001 and this past March a federal appeal court threw out the remaining legal challenge to the standards.

"While states were asked for preliminary recommendations on what areas are out of attainment for the eight-hour standard in 2000, said Stephen Smith of the Knoxville-based Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, "the EPA has said it may wait until 2004 to take the step of formally designating these cities and counties for clean up. Every year of delay means more suffering for our natural resources and families. The EPA needs to supply prompt and clear legal guidance to the states so they can begin devising appropriate clean-up strategies to reduce ozone-forming pollution from power plants and diesel vehicles."

Frank O'Donell of the Clean Air Trust noted in the announcement that while state and local governments have primary responsibility to develop plans to achieve the standards, the federal government could help by using the authority granted the EPA under the Clean Air Act to devise a new multi-state plan to reduce smog forming emissions from electric power plants and close the "dirty diesel" loophole that permits construction equipment to emit more pollution than trucks or buses.

The "notice of intent" announced by the organizations is a first step of legal action that puts the party to be sued on notice for impending legal action.

Although not named in the joint announcement, the Tennessee Valley Authority's coal-fired power plants have been the target of many of the groups in the past for reportedly contributing to the pollution of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

T.V.A. officials say, however, they are following the guidelines and rules and spending millions to reduce the amount of emissions generated by the plants.