Ozone draws national attention

Ozone draws national attention

BY JOE KLEIN
STAFF WRITER

Pensacola's high ozone rates are so bad that a national environmental group has come to town to help out. The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy recently opened an office in Pensacola, hoping to help clean up the city's air. The group hails from Knoxville, Tenn., where it successfully pressured the Tennessee Valley Authority over the past 11 years to clean up power plants and support alternative energy technologies, such as solar panels and wind turbines.

"Pensacola makes a lot of sense for us," said Jim Presswood, director of SACE's Pensacola office. "We're located here basically because we have poor air quality, but also because we want to establish a presence in Florida, since it is one of the most important states in the region. We'd like to bring some expertise from other regions, try to find out local solutions that make sense from local leaders and businesses."

The group hasn't officially partnered with local groups, but Presswood says he's interested in working with local organizations like the Gulf Coast Environmental Defense, Citizens Against Toxic Exposure and the local chapter of the American Lung Association.

"We've come here to be an asset to people, and to raise public awareness about the impact from power plant air pollution that is harming public health."

The fledgling SACE chapter – with just 10 members – plans to expand into other Florida cities, Presswood says. Although Escambia county hasn't yet violated the Environmental Protection Agency's Air Quality Standard for ground-level ozone, the EPA will soon be imposing new, more rigorous air-quality standards. Presswood said it's just a matter of time.

"Right now, the standard is .12 parts of ozone per million averaged over a 24-hour period. We've exceeded that amount on occasion, but you have to have three exceedences in a three-year period to technically have a 'violation'."

The proposed new standards – which are scheduled to go into effect in 2004 – are .08 parts per million over an eight-hour period. Violation could result in automobile emissions testing, less federal highway money and stricter industry permitting requirements.

Although most people associate ozone with the upper atmosphere, ground-level ozone is a major contributor to air pollution.

Ground-level ozone forms from a chemical reaction between nitrogen oxides, which are produced mainly by fuel combustion, transportation, and industry.

"These plants are so old that they are exempt from modern air pollution control standards and emit a large amount of air pollution."
–Jim Presswood, director of SACE's Pensacola office

Sunlight provides the energy for a reaction among these and other commercial by-products, resulting in photochemical oxidants – more commonly called smog.

Smog, according to Presswood, is present in Pensacola, along with ground-level ozone, nitrogen oxides, mercury, carbon and sulfur dioxide emissions. He cites Gulf Power as an example of a ground-level ozone producing factory.

"These plants are so old that they are exempt from modern air pollution control standards and emit a large amount of air pollution."

Gulf Power has been talking about reducing this pollution, but has not yet made a firm commitment to do so. Gulf Power needs to make this commitment," he said.

John Hutchinson, a spokesman for Gulf Power, agrees on the need for cleaner air. He thinks, however, that Gulf Power need not be labeled a culprit. "We have reduced our nitrogen oxide emissions by 47 percent since 1992. Now consider that in that time, we've added over 100,000 new customers."

"They're making the assumption that nitrogen oxide emission is the sole contributing factor to ground-level ozone and air quality problems. They're not. Everything releases them – cars, factories. And they combine with natural, volatile organic compounds. Those are natural; they're produced by trees," he says. "We're not going to go around cutting down all of the trees."

Hutchinson acknowledges that Gulf Power contributes to the air-quality problem in Pensacola. The plant plans to reduce its nitrogen oxide emissions by another 30 percent by 2005.

Hutchinson said the facts just don't support blaming Gulf Power. "It's unhealthy for us to sit and blame each other. We're interested in helping to solve the problem; looking ahead."

Presswood wants to educate the public on what he calls "green power issues," which focus on non-fossil fuel sources. "We're working on both the process of bringing green power options to consumers, and also to help assure the consumers that it truly is green power."

SACE plans to work with the Breathe Easy Project to raise public awareness on air quality issues.

"Although our baseline surveys about community knowledge of the issues has shown that we have a lot of work to do, we hope that we can work in concert with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy toward our mutual goal of cleaner air," said Shawn Henning, director of Breathe Easy.

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is located at 41 N. Jefferson St. For more information, call 437-9059.