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Summit among 4 in area listed as failing to comply
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Thursday, Feb 05, 2009
A total of 31 Ohio counties including Summit, Stark, Portage and Medina fail to meet tighter federal limits for pollutant ozone — a problem that could bring more costly less-evaporative gasoline to Northeast Ohio.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency will hold a public hearing Feb. 12 in Columbus on the proposed designation of 31 Ohio counties as failing to comply with the new limits under the federal Clean Air Act.
The hearing will be at 3 p.m. in conference room B in the conference center of the Ohio EPA's Central Office, Lazarus Government Building, 50 W. Town St., Suite 700, Columbus.
Summit, Stark, Portage and Medina counties were listed by the U.S. EPA last March for designation as what is called ''non-attainment'' areas.
The other Northeast Ohio counties are Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, Geauga, Ashtabula, Trumbull and Mahoning.
Also included are Franklin, Delaware, Madison, Fairfield, Licking and Knox counties around Columbus; Montgomery, Clark and Greene counties around Dayton; and Hamilton, Butler, Clermont, Warren and Clinton counties around Cincinnati.
Also listed are Jefferson, Washington, Belmont and Lawrence counties.
In the Toledo area, Lucas and Wood counties are included. But the Ohio EPA expects to change those two counties to compliance in the final report that must be submitted next month to the U.S. EPA, said Ohio EPA spokeswoman Heidi Griesmer.
The U.S. EPA will finalize noncompliance areas by March 2010. Designated counties will have to comply with the tighter ozone limits by 2013 to 2030, depending on the severity of the air problem.
The eight-county Akron-Cleveland area currently fails to comply with the federal limit of 84 parts per billion averaged over eight hours and the tighter limit is 75 parts per billion in order to better protect human health.
Ozone is formed when nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds from vehicles, industry and coal-burning power plants mix in direct sunlight. It is a key ingredient of smog and can cause breathing problems for children, the elderly and those with asthma.
The EPA said 345 of 639 monitored counties across the United States are unable to comply with the new limits. At present, 85 of those counties do not comply, the EPA said.
The Ohio EPA will accept comments on the designations through Feb. 16. Comments can be e-mailed to sarah.vanderwielen@epa.state.oh.us or jennifer.hunter@epa.state.oh.us.
They also can be mailed to VanderWielen or Hunter, Ohio EPA, Division of Air Pollution Control, P.O. Box 1049, Columbus, OH 43216. Comments also may be submitted at the hearing.
For more information on the proposal, contact VanderWielen at 614-644-3632or Hunter at 614-644-3696. You also can go to http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dapc/SIP/2008.html.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
A total of 31 Ohio counties including Summit, Stark, Portage and Medina fail to meet tighter federal limits for pollutant ozone — a problem that could bring more costly less-evaporative gasoline to Northeast Ohio.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Akron, OH
Posted 10:17 AM, 02/05/2009
Great. This will help keep folks in the area.
Stow, OH
Posted 02:11 PM, 02/05/2009
. Designated counties will have to comply with the tighter ozone limits by 2013 to 2030, depending on the severity of the air problem.
Gee ,you have to wonder how a county like say, Belmont, which is 90% rural farmland,is going to comply with this nonsense.Let's see,they could put up a big fence across the expressway that runs through it and put up some big fans to keep the ozone out that is blowing in from two counties over .Or we could just chase away the rest of the companies that haven't left yet .
akron , oh
Posted 02:59 PM, 02/05/2009
this is a bigger lie than global warming. who's pockets are being filled to keep this in the news?
Anti-Politically Correct & Anti-GOP, OH
Posted 07:05 AM, 02/06/2009
Looks like eCheck was a great idea! NOT!
