Audio clip
Ken Jones
Three region counties continue to look for ways to attain air quality that meets federal standards, but officials worry they have little control and more stringent regulations are on the way.
Catoosa and Walker counties in Georgia and Meigs County in Tennessee find it hard to meet stringent Environmental Protection Agency standards for particulate matter and ozone.
They have no offending industry and can’t control interstate traffic or the wind that brings pollution from more industrialized Chattanooga/Hamilton County, officials said.
Still, governments are implementing programs to comply with more stringent regulations — within reason.
“I’m not prepared to do the only thing we might to improve our readings,” Meigs County Mayor Ken Jones said. “I’m not about to tell farmers they can only run their diesel tractors between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.”
WHAT IT MEANS
Particulate:
* Tiny particles one-36th the width of a human hair, or smaller.
* Come from open burning, factory and vehicle emissions.
* Considered harmful to lungs and heart
Ozone:
* An unstable, three-atom molecule of oxygen.
* Ground-level ozone forms when the sun heats nitrogen oxides or some volatile organic gases.
* It damages the respiratory systems when breathed.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency
Meigs is Hamilton County’s neighbor to the northeast and has had ozone level readings above the maximum too many times, Mr. Jones said.
There is only one reason, he said.
“The natural air flow in this area is from southwest to northeast, so when Hamilton County gets its air cleaned, Meigs will also be clean,” Mr. Jones said.
To make matters worse, the ozone monitoring station that has recorded the problem days for Meigs County was placed just 20 feet inside his county from the Hamilton County line.
Officials in the Northwest Georgia counties of Walker and Catoosa feel some of the same pinch. They think Hamilton County is a major contributor to their non-attainment status for particulate matter.
Walker, Catoosa and Hamilton counties escaped the penalties of a non-attainment designation for ozone pollution by entering into an Early Action Compact with the EPA, Catoosa Public Works Director Olney Meadows said.
The three counties implemented burning bans from May 1 through September each year as part of the agreement.
Open burning contributes to airborne particulate.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation said Hamilton and Meigs counties were the only counties in Southeast Tennessee with non-attainment ozone readings.
Bob Colby, director of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Air Pollution Control Bureau, said when those standards aren’t met, a compliance plan must be developed and put in place.
“The process takes about five years, with reviews at the state and federal levels, so we hope to be in compliance when standards are implemented by EPA,” Mr. Colby said.
Cleveland and Bradley County to the east are much more industrialized than rural Meigs County, but are within standards for ozone and particulate matter, said Greg Thomas, director of the Community Development agency in Cleveland.
And he said they do not have as great a concern with meeting EPA guidelines when stricter standards come on line.
It is frustrating for the Georgia counties of Walker and Catoosa, said Walker County Coordinator David Ashburn.
“County officials don’t feel we’re out of compliance,” he said. “We were listed (as non-attainment) with Hamilton County because that’s the source of the pollution.”
Walker and Catoosa counties are included as offenders because they are in the Chattanooga Metropolitan Statistical Area, he said.
The EPA states the primary reason for stricter air standards is improved health benefits with fewer case of bronchitis, aggravated asthma and hospital and emergency room visits, according to an EPA statement earlier this year announcing the plan to revise air quality standards.
The EPA final rule on ozone should clear next month, beginning the five-year process toward required attainment dates.
Mr. Colby said it appears Hamilton County will meet the new particulate matter attainment level of 35 micrograms per cubic meter by the required time in 2011.
That attainment standard in 2005 was 65 micrograms per cubic meter of air.
But, “The next ozone standard for attainment will be 75 parts per billion, down from the last standard of 85 parts per billion,” Mr. Colby said.
“There are too many decimals involved when expressed in parts per million,” he said.
The 75 ppb standard for ozone compliance will have compliance dates ranging from 2013 to 2030, depending on how badly the area exceeds the levels, according to an EPA statement on the new standards.
Mr. Meadows said Catoosa and Walker counties have a lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., over the 2005 non-attainment designation by EPA.
“We don’t think we should be classified as non-attainment on particulate matter,” he said, blaming Chattanooga’s bowl configuration among area ridges, and traffic on Interstate 75 — neither of which Catoosa or Walker can control.
But they are doing what they can, he said.
“We have applied for a combustion mitigation air quality grant to acquire five new, cleaner operating diesel dump trucks,” Mr. Meadows said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Colby said local governments must keep chipping away at emissions.
“The use of ethanol in gasoline will help, as will the cleanup of power plants,” he said.
