CLEARING THE AIR

The recent news that nine southern and coastal counties with a history of air pollution problems are now in compliance with federal ozone standards is positive for the health – physical and economic – of Mainers. It also strengthens the state’s case that current clean air rules need to be maintained and enforced, not weakened as the Bush administration has proposed.

Hancock, Waldo, Knox, Lincoln, Kennebec, Androscoggin, Sagadahoc, Cumberland and York counties have long been listed as being in non- attainment of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency air quality standards for ozone. Ozone is formed near the ground when vehicle exhaust and smokestack emissions containing nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds combine with sunlight and oxygen. The resulting smog can be harmful to the lungs and can exacerbate existing respiratory problems, especially among the very young and elderly. Ground-level ozone production is highest during the summer.

The EPA measures an area’s compliance with ozone standards by averaging air-quality measurements over eight-hour blocks taken during the past three years, according to the federal agency’s Web site. The federal standard for ozone is 80 parts per billion in the ambient air averaged over eight hours.

According to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, all nine counties are now meeting the eight-hour standard. The lower pollution levels are the result of both in-state and out-of-state emissions reductions.

In Maine, vehicle -emissions standards have been toughened, as have new regulations on fuel containers, solvent use and paint containment. Fixes such as these, as well as the use of low-sulfur gasoline in the nine counties in the summer, will continue as the state prepares a plan for maintaining air quality, which will be sent to the EPA as part of a package to officially eliminate the non-attainment designation. Doing so could improve business, as the non-attainment designation has been used in other parts of the country to stop development, according to DEP Commissioner David Littell.

The air quality improvements in Maine also show that rules aimed at reducing emissions from power plants and manufacturing facilities are working. The Bush administration is trying to re-write air pollution rules through a package of legislation it calls Clear Skies. For example, it has tried to water down a provision known as new source review, which requires plants to install pollution control equipment when facilities are upgraded. Maine and 13 other states sued to stop the changes. A federal court rejected the EPA’s revised rule, leaving new source review in place for now, although the administration has dropped many enforcement actions under the existing rules.

Air quality improvements in Maine show that facilities here and in other states can comply with current rules and that those rules are working to reduce pollution.