Like trying to sell a gas guzzler during an oil crisis, the Maine Oil Dealers Association chose one of the state’s smoggier summers to suggest that Maine drop out of the Ozone Transport Commission. It is not likely to find a lot of customers. It shouldn’t — the suggestion doesn’t work for several reasons.

Most importantly, the commission — made up of Northeastern states that work together to lower air pollution — gives Maine a much louder voice when it comes to attracting attention on national air-pollution issues. For instance, the heat that Midwest coal-fired power plants are feeling as they resist efforts to come into compliance with Clean Air standards is being led by Maine through the OTC. Had the state tried this on its own, Maine may have been ignored; with the OTC, its charges have been heard and heeded.

That influence works within the commission, as well. When representatives from Northeastern states plan strategies for cleaning up the air, each knows whose pollution is responsbile for dirtying the skies of neighbors. If Massachusetts wants Connecticut to clean up its power plants, it has to take steps to clean up its own. For Maine to benefit as much as possible from these negotiations, it has to participate in the process. More effective legislation is the result.

While belonging to the commission gives Maine more influence in national affairs, dropping out doesn’t excuse it from any of the Environmental Protection Agency regulations in place in the southern part of the state to meet clean-air minimums. The exceptions to this are the car-test program restricted to Cumberland County and the truly silly rule requiring offsets for volatile organic compounds for new businesses even in rural areas, where trees produce a superabundance of VOCs. Maine would still have to reduce ozone levels by 15 percent; large gas stations would still have to use gasoline-vapor recovery devices.

The Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management — a group dedicated to keeping states working together and so not the least-biased source — argues that the region can meet federal standards for air quality only if upwind states take equally aggressive steps to improve air quality. It argues that ozone sources from the Midwest contribute significantly to the level of ozone in the Northeast and can be reduced for far less money — $622 per ton of nitrogen oxide emissions out of the region compared with $1,031 in it.

The Midwest, however, is not going to make these changes unless the Northeastern states make a coordinated and sustained appeal to the EPA. Commenting on a similar situation three years ago, Sen. George Mitchell pointed out that, “If Maine steps aside, we cannot count on other states to take our concerns into account. Of course, in order to remain a member of [the OTC], Maine must also agree to do its fair share within its state boundaries.”

The state can do “its fair share” for the residents of Maine by remaining active in seeking regional and nationwide solutions for reducing air pollution.