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Do IT this week: Layering
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 05:06 p.m. EDT, Oct 14, 2009
Northeast Ohio fails to comply with tighter federal daily limits for microscopic soot from coal-burning power plants, diesel- and gasoline-powered vehicles, and factories.
The federal edict affects eight Ohio counties: Summit, Portage, Medina, Stark, Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain and Jefferson.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has three years to devise a cleanup plan for the pollution that can also form in the atmosphere from reactions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. The unhealthy air must be cleaned within five years.
It is too early to predict what steps might be required to solve the soot, or particulate, problem, said Heidi Griesmer of the Ohio EPA.
Counties that do not comply could face sanctions on highway building and emission reductions for new businesses.
Tiny soot is a major health threat because people breathe it deep into their lungs. It can cause heart and lung problems. Children and older adults are particularly sensitive.
Soot also contributes to smog and acid rain.
The announcement by the U.S. EPA will be printed soon in the Federal Register and goes into effect 30 days after it is published.
The announcement of the soot problem in Northeast Ohio comes as no surprise.
Cuyahoga County has soot problems and, under federal rules, it is part of an air region with Summit, Medina, Portage, Lake and Lorain counties. A high soot reading in one county affects all six counties.
Stark and Jefferson counties failed to comply based on their own soot readings.
The state was expecting counties around Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton and Warren-Youngstown and a handful of Ohio River counties with coal-burning power plants had come into compliance but was awaiting official word, Griesmer said.
In late 2008, the federal EPA said in a preliminary ruling that 27 of Ohio's 88 counties failed to comply with tighter soot limits based on readings from 2005-2007.
But the federal EPA looked at the latest data from 2006-2008 and that showed compliance in the Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton and Warren-Youngstown areas and in five other Ohio River counties, she said.
''That's good news for Ohio . . . although it may not be good news for your area,'' Griesmer said.
Monitors across Ohio showed ''a dramatic improvement'' by getting rid of the 2005 data and adding the cleaner 2008 data, she said.
Clean-air data is showing steady improvement in microscopic soot across Ohio, but the problem remains in Northeast Ohio because of its heavy industrial base and its large number of vehicles, she said.
From 2006-2008, Cuyahoga County was the only Ohio county with daily soot violations, but that affects Cuyahoga and five other counties, she said. There are two federal soot standards: an annual average limit of 15 micrograms of tiny soot per cubic meter of air, and a 24-hour fine-soot standard of 35 micrograms per cubic meter (One microgram is equal to one-millionth the weight of a lima bean).
In 2005, 23 full and four partial Ohio counties failed to meet the annual soot limits and that triggered federal mandates to comply by next April. Ohio expects compliance except perhaps for Cuyahoga County, Griesmer said.
Ohio had complied with the daily soot limits until it was tightened to 35 micrograms on Sept. 21, 2006.
Ohio is one of 25 states where such soot is a problem, and it has 6.6 percent of the counties with violations.
Nationally, 31 urban areas covering all or parts of 120 counties have problems with tiny soot, according to the U.S. EPA.
In late 2008, the agency has said that all or parts of 211 counties across the United States had failed to comply with daily soot limits under the federal Clean Air Act.
Using the 2006-2008 data, 91 of those counties now attain federal soot limits. In addition, four new counties are now violating the limits. The EPA intends to work with those counties and review the data before making final determinations.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
Northeast Ohio fails to comply with tighter federal daily limits for microscopic soot from coal-burning power plants, diesel- and gasoline-powered vehicles, and factories.
The federal edict affects eight Ohio counties: Summit, Portage, Medina, Stark, Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain and Jefferson.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has three years to devise a cleanup plan for the pollution that can also form in the atmosphere from reactions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. The unhealthy air must be cleaned within five years.
It is too early to predict what steps might be required to solve the soot, or particulate, problem, said Heidi Griesmer of the Ohio EPA.
Counties that do not comply could face sanctions on highway building and emission reductions for new businesses.
Tiny soot is a major health threat because people breathe it deep into their lungs. It can cause heart and lung problems. Children and older adults are particularly sensitive.
Soot also contributes to smog and acid rain.
The announcement by the U.S. EPA will be printed soon in the Federal Register and goes into effect 30 days after it is published.
The announcement of the soot problem in Northeast Ohio comes as no surprise.
Cuyahoga County has soot problems and, under federal rules, it is part of an air region with Summit, Medina, Portage, Lake and Lorain counties. A high soot reading in one county affects all six counties.
Stark and Jefferson counties failed to comply based on their own soot readings.
The state was expecting counties around Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton and Warren-Youngstown and a handful of Ohio River counties with coal-burning power plants had come into compliance but was awaiting official word, Griesmer said.
In late 2008, the federal EPA said in a preliminary ruling that 27 of Ohio's 88 counties failed to comply with tighter soot limits based on readings from 2005-2007.
But the federal EPA looked at the latest data from 2006-2008 and that showed compliance in the Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton and Warren-Youngstown areas and in five other Ohio River counties, she said.
''That's good news for Ohio . . . although it may not be good news for your area,'' Griesmer said.
Monitors across Ohio showed ''a dramatic improvement'' by getting rid of the 2005 data and adding the cleaner 2008 data, she said.
Clean-air data is showing steady improvement in microscopic soot across Ohio, but the problem remains in Northeast Ohio because of its heavy industrial base and its large number of vehicles, she said.
From 2006-2008, Cuyahoga County was the only Ohio county with daily soot violations, but that affects Cuyahoga and five other counties, she said. There are two federal soot standards: an annual average limit of 15 micrograms of tiny soot per cubic meter of air, and a 24-hour fine-soot standard of 35 micrograms per cubic meter (One microgram is equal to one-millionth the weight of a lima bean).
In 2005, 23 full and four partial Ohio counties failed to meet the annual soot limits and that triggered federal mandates to comply by next April. Ohio expects compliance except perhaps for Cuyahoga County, Griesmer said.
Ohio had complied with the daily soot limits until it was tightened to 35 micrograms on Sept. 21, 2006.
Ohio is one of 25 states where such soot is a problem, and it has 6.6 percent of the counties with violations.
Nationally, 31 urban areas covering all or parts of 120 counties have problems with tiny soot, according to the U.S. EPA.
In late 2008, the agency has said that all or parts of 211 counties across the United States had failed to comply with daily soot limits under the federal Clean Air Act.
Using the 2006-2008 data, 91 of those counties now attain federal soot limits. In addition, four new counties are now violating the limits. The EPA intends to work with those counties and review the data before making final determinations.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
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RAVENNA, OH
Posted 05:51 PM, 10/14/2009
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY B. S. !!!!!!!!!!!!! THERE'S HARDLY ANY INDUSTRY LEFT IN THESE AREAS. WHAT ARE THEY DOING????..STANDING ALONGSIDE THE INTERSTATES AND TAKING READINGS......OR SOMEONES CAMPSITE FIRE??????!!!!! LUDICROUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!ANYTHING TO COST THE PEOPLE MORE SHELL OUT MONEY!!!!!!!
Posted 06:56 PM, 10/14/2009
Oh boy, here we go, one more way to expand e-check based upon some junk "science". There hasn't been any significant pollution around here for thirty years.
Hey Governor Strickland, how about growing some spine and telling all of them to take a flying leap. Ooops, that's right, no guts in Columbus.
No wonder there is no manufacturing to speak of left in the Akron/Canton area. Don't they get the whole idea that more and more restrictions limit jobs and productivity? Get government out and get jobs in........
akron, oh
Posted 08:05 PM, 10/14/2009
It all has to do with the power-plants, This is also not news they have said this for years.
AKRON, OH
Posted 09:05 PM, 10/14/2009
KEY FIGURES IN THIS SCAM SHOULD BE REDUCED TO SOOT
clinton, oh
Posted 12:12 AM, 10/15/2009
The second Roman Empire
Lake Worth, Florida
Posted 12:53 AM, 10/15/2009
Ohio power plants have spent a fortune on stack scrubbers. You have seen the results in utility bill increases for the last 25 years. But, that isn't the real problem. In decades past Ohio Electric utilities bought there coal from W. Virgina. W. Va's coal is a harder clean burning fuel. Ohio legislature required the use of coal from Ohio: a softer, dirtier product.
So then, government caused the problem, blamed it on industry (which no Liberal seems to like) then pass the expense along to you.
I used to live in Ohio. I remember mostly center right thinking people. Why do you time and again elect Democrats?
Lake Worth, Florida
Posted 12:56 AM, 10/15/2009
E-Check? Wouldn't it have been cheaper and more effective to require everyone to get a tune-up at least once a year?
akron, oh
Posted 06:52 AM, 10/15/2009
So does this mean E Check is coming to Stark county?
akron, oh
Posted 07:25 AM, 10/15/2009
I sometimes think we should tell the Feds that we're not going to send them our money anymore. That way we wouldn't have to worry about their threats to withhold sending our money back to us if we don't play along in their game.
NE Ohio is already a skeleton of industry, compared to the way it once was. Part of that is due to the high cost of being in business here. These mandates, though well intentioned, don't help.
my city, Oh
Posted 07:55 AM, 10/15/2009
This is just the beginning. If this Cap and Trade bill passes there will be no industry left in this COUNTRY at all. When companies have to purchase energy credit to continue to do business in a country then they're going to move to a country that requires no purchase of 'ENERGY CREDITS'. Not to mention the cost on us home owners to bring our home up to the new energy standards.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/01/capandtrade101.html
Demolition Falls, OH
Posted 08:56 AM, 10/15/2009
This is a bit off the subject, but the EPA and OSHA should do more to regulate pollution in the workplace, as well as air quality outdoors. I'll give you an example: I recently took my car to a dealership for service. When I went back to pick up the car later in the day, the shop area (which is fairly large) reeked of exhaust fumes. There were several cars inside that had the engines running, but no hoses were connected to the tail pipes in order to vent the exhaust to the outside. I was in the place for only 5 to 10 minutes, but I left with a CO headache. There were probably 20 to 25 employees working in this environment, and I just found it hard to believe. There should definitely be strict laws against this kind of negligence. Companies should not be allowed to put their employees health at risk with impunity.
Akron, OH
Posted 09:02 AM, 10/15/2009
@ DDuckster: If I am not mistaken, I read earlier this year in the ABJ that Stark Cty will be getting E-check.
@ Philabuster: I don't think the Ohio legislature can mandate the purchase of Ohio coal only. That would be in violation of the federal Universal Commercial Code. If Columbus did in fact enact such legislation, it would have been challenged in federal courts and would have been struck down. Also, this has to do with the U.S. EPA more than our state officials.
What I don't understand is why the Akron/Canton area is being penalized along side Cuyahoga County when we have been in compliance. That's just stupid.
Cleveland, OH
Posted 09:19 AM, 10/15/2009
This reminds me of a report I just read on the impact of climate legislation on Ohio published by Policy Matters Ohio, entitled A Comparison of Climate Legislation Studies. The report found that for every study that projects job loss, there is another that projects job gain.
Akron, OH
Posted 09:34 AM, 10/15/2009
Despite what a few of you want to believe, industry has not totally left the area. And, we are still producing coal power as well.
I wonder what restrictions all these semi-trucks have though since some of them give off so much smoke you do not want to even drive near them.
Dade City, Fl
Posted 09:53 AM, 10/15/2009
That's okay, who is gonna need the roads and highways in Ohio anyways. Everyone is planning on leaving Ohio as soon as they can. The only ones that will need the roads and highways in the future will for the only people left, the politicicans. LEAVE OHIO...Its a great idea.
akron, oh
Posted 09:58 AM, 10/15/2009
just a side note- the contractor working on 71 the last couple of years has been using agg. diesel fuel. I'm sure thats not every road crew,but it adds up. anyone know state regs on this?
Anti-Politically Correct & Anti-GOP, OH
Posted 10:19 AM, 10/15/2009
Guess we'll have to expand eCheck into Wayne and Stark Counties.
Barberton, OH
Posted 12:14 PM, 10/15/2009
Wohoo! More E-check stations = more jobs! See, all this regulation of our industries that pay well produces some more minimum wage jobs that are paid for with tax dollars! (add sarcastic tone) Double post apology.
Barberton, OH
Posted 12:14 PM, 10/15/2009
Wohoo! More E-check stations = more jobs! See, all this regulation of our industries that pay well produces some more minimum wage jobs that are paid for with tax dollars! (add sarcastic tone) Double post apology.
uniontown, oh
Posted 01:44 PM, 10/15/2009
Yes E-Check in Wayne County. It's about time that some political hack appointed EPA administrator figured out how to attach a device on the exhaust end of a polluting Amish road traveling device (for you in Columbus that would be a horse and buggy).
As far as Summit County goes we have no smoke stack business anymore. Every car that we own has been E-Checked at least 5 to 10 times. The only way that we can reduce "diesel soot pollution" is to pass a law that stops all Semi trucks and trains at our boarders and turn them around, or make them go around Summit County. Either that or close I-77, Rt8, I-76, 224, I-277. Lets keep them "foreign truckers out of our county". On second thought their aren't any trucks on the road lately. When did the EPA take these readings? Several years ago, when we had a working economy? You know, before the Change.
Dade City, Fl
Posted 01:59 PM, 10/15/2009
ohioblues, I believe that would be Kenmore Construction aka Highway Asphalt. This is one politically connected company.
Dade City, Fl
Posted 02:04 PM, 10/15/2009
citizenk62, they don't really care about pollution. They want your money...geeze. Haven't they made it obvious enough yet for you people?
Most of the smog and pollution in LA comes across the Pacific Ocean from China now. All that pollution may be in those counties but how much is brought in from other counties and states either through traffic, construction or polluted air drifting to that area?
I say heck with it all...just leave Ohio..I keep saying it and say it...Leave Ohio. Living in Ohio is like a balloon mortgage, you can count on getting reamed.
akron, oh
Posted 05:49 PM, 10/15/2009
Mars---not in Medina county...its another quality contractor
akron, oh
Posted 05:55 PM, 10/15/2009
Mars; I moved here from florida. Had no idea it was so differant than the rest of the country.
It's like a sticky trap for people. high utility bills,low pay, and lots of nepotism.
Made me miss my short time in Texas- a whole-nother country.
Posted 09:21 PM, 10/15/2009
Our area has never been cleaner. No smell, no soot and no jobs. The coal plants I use to work on had to reheat the flu gasses after scrubbing the flu gasses to get the gasses to go up the stack.
Echeck is a low paying job. Many work part time at the testing stations. The only people making money at Echeck is the state and the owners - stock holders of that company. Another scam taking from the poor and makeing rich richer.
Bring in new industry, one that manufactures something, then we can return to full employment or at least all that want to work can have a good job.
NorthernWestVirginny, WV
Posted 10:15 PM, 10/15/2009
Philabuster...I think the whole nation elected the Dems because the republiCONs SUCK !!! Look what THE PARTY did to Ohio and the nation lately.
