SMOG PLAN TO MISS GOAL, Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/112206dntexsmogplan.32b4ead.html
North Texas proposal affects industry, traffic; foes see no cut in ozone
11:44 PM CST on Tuesday, November 21, 2006
By RANDY LEE LOFTIS / The Dallas Morning News
A proposed smog-fighting plan for urban North Texas released Tuesday falls short of the requirement for cleaning up the air by the federal Clean Air Act deadline of March 2009.
The plan, which calls for mandatory pollution cuts from local industries and improvements in traffic flows, relies heavily on new federal limits on emissions from vehicles and fuels.
Still, Texas environmental officials predicted that the plan would work.
"It's a pretty aggressive plan," said David Schanbacher, chief engineer for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which released details of its proposal.
But environmentalists branded the plan a failure, saying it does not achieve a clear victory over the lung-scarring ozone pollution that has plagued the North Texas region for decades. It also does not restrict driving or change vehicle standards.
The state predicts that two ozone monitors, in Frisco and Denton, will still register levels over the federal limit in 2009.
A federal provision allows states to argue that their plans are close enough to the goal to deserve approval by the Environmental Protection Agency. And Texas is using that provision to seek approval of the Dallas-Fort Worth plan.
Even if the plan achieved the current federal limit on ozone, that limit may be too high to protect public health.
Science advisers to the EPA have suggested that the current limit should be reduced by about 10 percent.
The new state plan "really is a slap in the face to the idea that this is a public-health issue" instead of just a legal issue, said Jim Schermbeck of Downwinders at Risk, a group fighting for tighter pollution limits on Ellis County's cement kilns.
He called on the EPA to reject the plan.
Under the Clean Air Act, polluted areas must clean up their air or face the threat of new restrictions on industrial expansions. The ultimate federal sanction – the loss of federal highway money – applies only if a state repeatedly fails to submit an acceptable plan. That punishment has never been imposed.
Only once, in 1999, has the Environmental Protection Agency threatened such sanctions. And even then, the threat vanished a year later when state officials submitted a revised plan.
The new state proposal, which covers Dallas, Collin, Rockwall, Denton, Tarrant, Ellis, Kaufman, Johnson and Parker counties, goes before the state environmental agency's three commissioners on Dec. 16. After the commissioners endorse the plan, the agency will accept written public comments from Dec. 29 to Feb. 12.
The agency has scheduled public hearings on Feb. 1 at 2 p.m. at Arlington City Hall and 6 p.m. at the Midlothian Civic Center. Other hearings are set for Longview and Austin.
The state must submit a final version of the plan to the EPA by June 15.
Ozone's effects
Ozone is the most troublesome ingredient of urban smog. The chemical cooks in the atmosphere during the summer when sunlight reacts with pollution from vehicles, industries and other sources.
It causes breathing problems and can trigger asthma attacks, which can be fatal. Children, the elderly and the infirm are at the greatest risk, but ozone can also affect healthy people when levels are highest.
Ozone can't be smelled or seen. However, the brown haze that rings the Dallas-Fort Worth horizon for much of the year is related to ozone; it's nitrogen oxides, ozone-causing chemicals that result from burning any fuel, from gasoline in a car to coal in a power plant.
Although vehicles are the biggest local source of ozone-causing emissions, the typical motorist would have to do nothing different as a result of the state's new ozone proposal.
People in 16 North Texas counties drive more than 106 million miles daily – the equivalent of driving from Earth to the sun and 13 million miles beyond – the Texas Department of Transportation says. Driving has doubled since 1980 and could double again by 2012.
The plan includes no restrictions on driving or drive-through lanes, no changes in state emissions inspections and no California-type vehicle engine standards.
It does include a variety of local voluntary measures, such as more HOV lanes and better traffic coordination. Those with the highest predictions of success in cutting emissions include intersection improvements and voluntary vanpooling efforts.
Much of the plan's predicted improvement in local air quality would come from new federal fuel and vehicle standards being phased in over the next few years.
Heavy-duty commercial vehicles face continued restrictions on extended idling under the state plan.
One project that local officials rank as a high priority, the Texas Emissions Reduction Program, offers companies grants to help them replace older, dirtier diesel engines with new ones. But the Legislature has not released all the money collected for the program.
Kilns, power plants
The plan puts new restrictions on industries in the nine-county area, including power plants and cement kilns. And it limits emissions from pipeline compressor engines across East Texas.
But it does not require power companies to cut emissions from plants outside the nine-county area, despite a state study last year that said such reductions might be needed in order to help clean up Dallas-Fort Worth's air.
Dallas-based TXU says it would voluntarily reduce its pollution as part of its plans to build 11 new coal-burning power plants. Other companies with existing or proposed power plants have not made similar pledges.
The smog plan calls for cement kilns in Ellis County, which are North Texas' biggest industrial polluters, to cut their emissions of nitrogen oxides by 35 to 50 percent. Environmental groups are pressing for cuts of about 85 percent.
The environmental commission's Mr. Schanbacher said the agency rejected the demands for deeper cuts because the equipment that would yield them is unproven. Pollution control systems that can cut emissions by about 50 percent, by contrast, are readily available and can be installed quickly, he said.
Environmentalists dispute that assessment, citing the state agency's own study this summer that said the cement plants could make the deeper cuts. The state commissioned the study as part of a settlement of a lawsuit that environmental groups filed over the previous Dallas-Fort Worth smog plan.
Tom "Smitty" Smith of Public Citizen, one of the groups that filed the suit, called the plan a giveaway to big industries at the expense of public health. "They're protecting these polluters one more time – they're protecting the powerful," he said.
Mr. Schanbacher, however, said the plan covers nearly every source of ozone-causing emissions and would show more success than the critics charged. "I'm proud of this plan," he said.
E-mail rloftis@dallasnews.com
North Texas proposal affects industry, traffic; foes see no cut in ozone
11:44 PM CST on Tuesday, November 21, 2006
By RANDY LEE LOFTIS / The Dallas Morning News
A proposed smog-fighting plan for urban North Texas released Tuesday falls short of the requirement for cleaning up the air by the federal Clean Air Act deadline of March 2009.
The plan, which calls for mandatory pollution cuts from local industries and improvements in traffic flows, relies heavily on new federal limits on emissions from vehicles and fuels.
Still, Texas environmental officials predicted that the plan would work.
"It's a pretty aggressive plan," said David Schanbacher, chief engineer for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which released details of its proposal.
But environmentalists branded the plan a failure, saying it does not achieve a clear victory over the lung-scarring ozone pollution that has plagued the North Texas region for decades. It also does not restrict driving or change vehicle standards.
The state predicts that two ozone monitors, in Frisco and Denton, will still register levels over the federal limit in 2009.
A federal provision allows states to argue that their plans are close enough to the goal to deserve approval by the Environmental Protection Agency. And Texas is using that provision to seek approval of the Dallas-Fort Worth plan.
Even if the plan achieved the current federal limit on ozone, that limit may be too high to protect public health.
Science advisers to the EPA have suggested that the current limit should be reduced by about 10 percent.
The new state plan "really is a slap in the face to the idea that this is a public-health issue" instead of just a legal issue, said Jim Schermbeck of Downwinders at Risk, a group fighting for tighter pollution limits on Ellis County's cement kilns.
He called on the EPA to reject the plan.
Under the Clean Air Act, polluted areas must clean up their air or face the threat of new restrictions on industrial expansions. The ultimate federal sanction – the loss of federal highway money – applies only if a state repeatedly fails to submit an acceptable plan. That punishment has never been imposed.
Only once, in 1999, has the Environmental Protection Agency threatened such sanctions. And even then, the threat vanished a year later when state officials submitted a revised plan.
The new state proposal, which covers Dallas, Collin, Rockwall, Denton, Tarrant, Ellis, Kaufman, Johnson and Parker counties, goes before the state environmental agency's three commissioners on Dec. 16. After the commissioners endorse the plan, the agency will accept written public comments from Dec. 29 to Feb. 12.
The agency has scheduled public hearings on Feb. 1 at 2 p.m. at Arlington City Hall and 6 p.m. at the Midlothian Civic Center. Other hearings are set for Longview and Austin.
The state must submit a final version of the plan to the EPA by June 15.
Ozone's effects
Ozone is the most troublesome ingredient of urban smog. The chemical cooks in the atmosphere during the summer when sunlight reacts with pollution from vehicles, industries and other sources.
It causes breathing problems and can trigger asthma attacks, which can be fatal. Children, the elderly and the infirm are at the greatest risk, but ozone can also affect healthy people when levels are highest.
Ozone can't be smelled or seen. However, the brown haze that rings the Dallas-Fort Worth horizon for much of the year is related to ozone; it's nitrogen oxides, ozone-causing chemicals that result from burning any fuel, from gasoline in a car to coal in a power plant.
Although vehicles are the biggest local source of ozone-causing emissions, the typical motorist would have to do nothing different as a result of the state's new ozone proposal.
People in 16 North Texas counties drive more than 106 million miles daily – the equivalent of driving from Earth to the sun and 13 million miles beyond – the Texas Department of Transportation says. Driving has doubled since 1980 and could double again by 2012.
The plan includes no restrictions on driving or drive-through lanes, no changes in state emissions inspections and no California-type vehicle engine standards.
It does include a variety of local voluntary measures, such as more HOV lanes and better traffic coordination. Those with the highest predictions of success in cutting emissions include intersection improvements and voluntary vanpooling efforts.
Much of the plan's predicted improvement in local air quality would come from new federal fuel and vehicle standards being phased in over the next few years.
Heavy-duty commercial vehicles face continued restrictions on extended idling under the state plan.
One project that local officials rank as a high priority, the Texas Emissions Reduction Program, offers companies grants to help them replace older, dirtier diesel engines with new ones. But the Legislature has not released all the money collected for the program.
Kilns, power plants
The plan puts new restrictions on industries in the nine-county area, including power plants and cement kilns. And it limits emissions from pipeline compressor engines across East Texas.
But it does not require power companies to cut emissions from plants outside the nine-county area, despite a state study last year that said such reductions might be needed in order to help clean up Dallas-Fort Worth's air.
Dallas-based TXU says it would voluntarily reduce its pollution as part of its plans to build 11 new coal-burning power plants. Other companies with existing or proposed power plants have not made similar pledges.
The smog plan calls for cement kilns in Ellis County, which are North Texas' biggest industrial polluters, to cut their emissions of nitrogen oxides by 35 to 50 percent. Environmental groups are pressing for cuts of about 85 percent.
The environmental commission's Mr. Schanbacher said the agency rejected the demands for deeper cuts because the equipment that would yield them is unproven. Pollution control systems that can cut emissions by about 50 percent, by contrast, are readily available and can be installed quickly, he said.
Environmentalists dispute that assessment, citing the state agency's own study this summer that said the cement plants could make the deeper cuts. The state commissioned the study as part of a settlement of a lawsuit that environmental groups filed over the previous Dallas-Fort Worth smog plan.
Tom "Smitty" Smith of Public Citizen, one of the groups that filed the suit, called the plan a giveaway to big industries at the expense of public health. "They're protecting these polluters one more time – they're protecting the powerful," he said.
Mr. Schanbacher, however, said the plan covers nearly every source of ozone-causing emissions and would show more success than the critics charged. "I'm proud of this plan," he said.
E-mail rloftis@dallasnews.com
posted by Downwinders At Risk at
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