State regions out of compliance because of high ozone levels

State regions out of compliance because of high ozone levels

By The Associated Press

CHATTANOOGA – All Tennessee regions where ozone levels are monitored are out of compliance with new clean air regulations, Gov. Don Sundquist said in a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency.

That includes all of Tennessee's major metropolitan areas. Areas not in compliance could lose federal transportation money.

The state had 99 percent compliance under the old standards.

"We're no worse than we have been – in fact the air is cleaner – but the standards have changed," Tennessee Environment and Conservation Commissioner Milton Hamilton told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Sundquist's letter met a June 30 deadline to advise the EPA on Tennessee's status in meeting the new clean air regulations.

State officials have four months from July 1 to come up with a plan to bring Tennessee's air quality into compliance.

Hamilton said it will be difficult for Tennessee to meet the new regulations, based on data collected from ozone monitors.

Ozone is a colorless gas that forms when nitrogen oxides emitted by power plants, factories or gasoline-burning engines mix with hydrocarbons in the presence of sunlight.

In addition to causing environmental damage, it poses a health hazard, particularly for children, senior citizens and anyone with asthma or lung disease.

The new clean air regulations limit the allowed ozone level to 0.08 parts per million, from 0.12 parts per million.

States also are required for the first time to regulate microscopic particulates, or soot, from power plants, cars and other sources down to 2.5 microns, or 28 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

The regulations have been challenged in court by the Tennessee Valley Authority and other utilities. EPA is allowing states to decide whether to crack down on power plant emissions or use another strategy to meet the new regulations, such as attacking pollution from the exhausts of cars and trucks.

The agency says it is cheapest to go after utility emissions.

Last week a federal appeals court lifted a stay on one regulation that forces additional controls on coal-fired power plants.

The ruling gives 19 states, including Tennessee, four months to file a plan for reducing nitrogen oxide emissions by May 2003.

Still tied up in litigation is EPA's new ozone standard.

Errol Reksten of the Air Pollution Control Bureau in Chattanooga said the city has been in compliance for years, but the new regulations will make it virtually impossible to remain that way without geography changes or stringent new rules.

One solution might involve mandatory vehicle exhaust inspections and repairs, he said.

"At the risk of being run out of town, the truth is this is going to wind up as a mobile source problem – cars and trucks," he said.

" We're no worse than we have been – in fact the air is cleaner – but the standards have changed."

Milton Hamilton
Tennessee Environment and Conservation Commissioner