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Counties on pace to meet soot rule

But if Cuyahoga fails new federal standards, entire region will suffer

By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer

Published on Sunday, Sep 07, 2008

There's good and bad news as Northeast Ohio tries to comply with the first federal mandates on microscopic soot.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency says that 26 of Ohio's 27 counties with soot problems, including Summit, Portage, Medina and Stark, should be able to meet federal limits by the deadline of April 5, 2010.

Clean-air programs are working and there's no need for Ohio to do anything more to reduce soot, the EPA said in its new state compliance plan.

That's the good news.

Here's the bad: The county likely to fail is Cuyahoga.

And because Cuyahoga is part of a compliance region along with Summit, Portage, Medina, Lake, Lorain and Ashtabula, the Akron area probably will be in violation of the soot standards under the federal Clean Air Act.

Being in violation could produce federal sanctions, including strict air pollution limits on new and expanding businesses.

To complicate things, the federal government wants to further tighten the soot limits by 2012 to protect human health. That would make it even harder for the area to meet federal standards.

Ohio's compliance plan will be the subject of two public hearings, including one in this area: at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 17 at the Twinsburg Public Library, 10050 Ravenna Road.

Microscopic soot is a year-round problem in 25 states, including Ohio. It can aggravate breathing problems and trigger heart attacks.

The soot comes from coal-burning power plants, smokestack industries, wood fires and vehicles — especially diesel-powered cars, trucks and buses.

The state EPA's decision not to impose additional restrictions is based largely on new computer modeling. That analysis indicates that national action to clean up coal-burning power plants and state programs already planned to cut emissions from diesel-powered vehicles will make a big difference in removing soot from the air.

But the news that Ohio will not need to take new steps to combat soot came as a surprise to Curtis Baker of the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study, a local planning group.

His agency and the Cleveland-based Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency had drafted scores of steps
that could be taken to help comply with the soot mandate.

EPA spokeswoman Heidi Griesmer said none of those steps is part of the state plan because they were deemed unnecessary.

Shelly Kiser of the American Lung Association of Ohio called the EPA plan ''pretty disturbing . . . and it's sad that Ohio's not going to do more. It needs to rethink this plan.''

The biggest question for Ohio is the status of federal clean-air rules on power plants, said Lynn Malcolm, director of the Akron Regional Air Quality Management District.

On July 11, a federal appeals court struck down the federal Clean Air Interstate Rule, which covered emissions from 28 Eastern states, including Ohio.

Some utilities are proceeding with improvements, even though there is no federal rule in place. Akron's FirstEnergy Corp. is continuing with its $1.5 billion project to install scrubbers at its W.H. Sammis Power Plant south of East Liverpool, spokeswoman Ellen Raines said.

But utilities could halt or delay improvements, and that would have a negative impact on air quality and skew Ohio's modeling, Malcolm said.

The computer modeling showed that one factor in helping Ohio comply with the soot standards is the state's stagnant economy. For example, Ford Motor Co.'s decision to shut down its Cleveland casting plant by late 2010 should have a big effect on Cleveland air readings, the EPA said.

Griesmer said the compliance plan does not address what would happen to soot levels if the Ohio economy improves, because other rules cover that scenario.

Ohio is taking enforcement steps against some companies that generate large quantities of soot, including Cleveland steel maker Mittal Inc.

The EPA and the company are in discussions and hope to conclude a consent decree in early 2009 on cleaning up the plant's operations, the EPA said.

Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.

There's good and bad news as Northeast Ohio tries to comply with the first federal mandates on microscopic soot.

Get the full article here.


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ed

Posted 08:18 AM, 09/07/2008

The air is cleaner now than in the past 100 years.


Action Jackson

Posted 09:10 AM, 09/07/2008

yeah we got rid of factories
















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