Southeastern groups sue EPA for not enforcing pollution rules

Southeastern groups sue EPA for not enforcing pollution rules

By Colin Fly
The Associated Press

Health and environmental groups from eight Southeastern states announced Thursday that they intend to take the Environmental Protection Agency to court for failing to enforce air pollution health standards set five years ago.

The groups, including the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, the American Lung Association and the Sierra Club, plan to sue the EPA in federal court within 60 days to force the agency to begin implementing stricter standards for ozone pollution, the main component of smog.

In the Southeast, 59 cities or counties that monitor ozone aren't meeting the tougher standards, according to the Southern Lung Association.

"We've got an excessive amount of cities and counties violating the eight-hour ozone standards," said alliance spokeswoman Ulla Reeves. "We very clearly have a problem in the Southeast."

More than 23 million people in an eight-state region from North Carolina to Mississippi are exposed to unhealthy levels of ozone pollution, a component of smog, according to the American Lung Association.

Pam Lewis, executive director of the Alabama chapter, said Thursday's action is the first step in cleaning up the region's air

The EPA had delayed designating the areas that aren't in compliance because of industry law-suits challenging the tougher standards. But the last legal challenge was struck down in March.

Kay Prince, chief of air planning at the EPA regional office in Atlanta, couldn't comment on the group's intent to sue, but said her agency has already started the process of implementing the standards and will begin to formulate ways to help state regions of poor air quality.

"We expect to publish a final notice in 2003. Once that notice is published, we'll give states the opportunity to comment," said Prince.

States would then have three years to comply.

The new regulations limit ozone to 0.08 parts per million instead of 0.12 parts per million and requires ozone levels to be averaged over an eight-hour period instead of the current one-hour period.

The tougher standards will increase the number of counties and cities out of compliance.

In Alabama, only the Birmingham area currently fails to meet the older one-hour standard. But Lewis thinks at least three to five more urban regions of Alabama would fail to comply under the new levels.

"Since it's not official, the state won't do anything about it," Lewis said. "The sooner the EPA does its work, then the sooner the state does its work and the residents breathe healthier air."

Officials with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park have been monitoring ozone there since 1998 and have recorded 145 days above the 0.08 eight-hour standard. The park registered a record 52 days above the standard in 1999, then 32 days in 2000 and 14 days in 2001. Spokesman Bob Miller says the weather may get some of the credit for the air quality improvement.

"It would be nice to look at the numbers and say they're decreasing, but the truth is there's no reason to believe that," Miller said. "In 1999, we had long stretches of Bermuda highs where the park was exposed to the same air day after day and there was a lot of ozone activity. But, for example, in 2001 there were lots of fronts that forced air out of the area."

Also planning to sue the EPA are the Environmental Defense, Natural Resources Defense Council and Clean Air Council. The states involved are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.