Obama to Unveil New Limits on Ozone Pollution

By Suzanne Goldenberg, Guardian UK

27 November 14

New guidelines will bring US up to par with health standards in other industrialised countries and are a victory for environmental groups

he Obama administration has unveiled new limits on smog pollution bringing the US up to par with public health standards in other industrialised countries.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it would set National Ambient Air Quality Standard between 65 and 70 parts per billion concentration of ozone and consider public comments on standards within a 60 to 75 ppb range.

“Bringing ozone pollution standards in line with the latest science will clean up our air, improve access to crucial air quality information, and protect those most at-risk,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “It empowers the American people with updated air quality information to protect our loved ones.”

The EPA must finalize the rule by October. It will replace the current standard of 75 ppb set in 2008. The agency had been under a court-ordered deadline to propose new rules for ground-level ozone by 1 December.

The new standards represent a victory for public health and environment groups which had sued the Obama administration for rejecting stricter controls for political reasons.

“It’s a big task for the president, an opportunity to fix a past mistake,” said Paul Billings, a senior vice-president at the American Lung Association, one of the groups which brought the suit. “I think he is feeling emboldened to make some legacy moves here.”

The Republican leadership in Congress and industry groups have already indicated they intend to try to overturn the rules, as they believe them too costly for industry.

The World Health Organization considers ozone a major public health concern, causing respiratory and cardiac illnesses and leading to increased hospital visits and premature death.

Government scientists have known for at least six years that the existing standards do not protect the public from the respiratory and heart problems caused by high ground-level concentrations of ozone.

The European Union limits are 60 parts per billion. Canada’s are 63 parts per billion. The US standards, which allow up to 75 parts per billion, are a relic of the George Bush administration.

Ozone is the most pervasive form of air pollution. It is not emitted directly into the air but caused by a chemical reaction under sunlight of volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides produced by factories, power plants, cars and gasoline vapours.

Because ozone involves so many industries, there is great industry pushback against tighter controls.

Republican senators wrote to the White House in advance of the rule last week, complaining it would be the most expensive in regulatory history – a line echoed by the main oil and gas lobby.

Even at the time of their adoption in 2008, federal government scientists said the standards were too lax to protect the most vulnerable populations. Ozone, the main component of smog, causes respiratory and heart problems, and aggravates asthma.

It is especially dangerous to children and the elderly, and those with a history of breathing difficulties.

The EPA began revising the Bush-era standards soon after Obama entered the White House. In January 2010, the agency proposed lowering the limits to between 60 and 70 parts per billion.

But the final rules faced multiple delays, and in 2011 Obama stepped in to block the EPA, as part of a broader effort at the time to reduce “regulatory burdens”

The American Lung Association and environmental groups sued two years later.

The EPA’s in-house experts, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, said in a report last August that the EPA should set the limits on ozone pollution to between 60 and 70 parts per billion, a drop from the current level of 75 parts per billion.

The scientists strongly leaned towards setting a limit closer to the bottom end of the range, writing that it “would certainly offer more public health protection”.

Settling for a limit near the upper end of the range, closer to 70 parts per billion, provided “little margin of safety for the protection of public health, particularly for sensitive subpopulations”, such as those with asthma and other lung conditions.