The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday decided to lower the allowable level of the air pollutant ozone to better protect health, a decision that spells more bad-air news for Northeast Ohio.

The Akron-Cleveland area will likely be required to use cleaner, but more costly gasoline in order to comply with the tighter federal limit beginning in 2013, said Lynn Malcolm, director of the Akron Regional Air Quality Management District.

Malcolm said he would be shocked if less-evaporative gasoline is not mandated, at least during summers, for vehicles in Summit, Portage, Medina, Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, Geauga and Ashtabula counties.

He said he was unable to speculate what new and costly requirements might be imposed on Ohio industries, vehicles and coal-burning power plants in order to comply. ''Beyond that, I'd be guessing,'' he said.

The eight-county Akron-Cleveland region currently fails to comply with the federal limit of 84 parts per billion averaged over eight hours under the federal Clean Air Act, and the move Wednesday will tighten that limit to 75 parts per billion.

The federal action displeased electric utilities and smokestack industries, but the EPA did not lower the limit as much as had been advocated by its own science panel and health-environmental groups.

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.

Northeast Ohio is under federal orders to curtail ozone by June 15, 2010 (based on 2007-2009 readings). The Ohio EPA has submitted a final state compliance plan to the U.S. EPA. A public hearing on that plan is scheduled at 2:30 p.m. April 2 at the Twinsburg Library, 10050 Ravenna Road.

Heidi Griesmer, a spokeswoman for the Ohio EPA, said the agency doesn't feel that less-evaporative or reformulated gasoline is needed in order for the Akron-Cleveland area to comply with the current ozone limit.

Computer modeling indicates that the steps being taken by the Ohio EPA, plus federal cleanup requirements for Ohio's coal-burning power plants, should be sufficient, she said.

But the tighter limits will impact 32 of Ohio's 88 counties including the Akron-Cleveland area plus Stark, Trumbull and Mahoning counties are likely to be unable to meet the tighter ozone limit, she said.

Those counties would likely be designated in 2010 and have from 2013 to 2030 to comply, depending on the severity of the ozone problem.

The announcement from U.S. EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson is being called one of the major environmental decisions of the Bush Administration because it will define clean-air requirements for the next decade.

The lower limit marks the first change in the ozone limit since 1997 and was triggered by 1,700 health studies, Johnson said.

The change will prevent 20,000 premature deaths a year across the country, he said.

The EPA action met a court-imposed deadline in a lawsuit filed by the American Lung Association, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Earthjustice.

Industry groups say the change will cost the United States nearly $9 billion a year.

Cost is not a factor in the EPA setting new health standards, Johnson said.

The agency is required by the Clean Air Act to review the science behind the ozone limits every five years.

An EPA health panel, EPA scientists and health experts had suggested that the limits be lowered to 60 parts per billion.

The Edison Electric Institute, representing utilities with coal-fired plants, and the National Association of Manufacturers called for no change in the ozone limits. Said John Kinsman of the utility institute of the decision: ''Changing the ozone standard is the wrong call.''

The change is ''moderately good news for Ohioans,'' Jack Shaner of the Ohio Environmental Council ''It appears that the Bush White House split the difference between sound science and political science.''

The EPA said 345 of 639 monitored counties across the United States will be unable to comply with the new limits. At present, 85 of those counties do not comply, the EPA said.