Red Shows Nonattainment Areas for PM 2.5

This week the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency notified twenty of the final nonattainment area designations for fine particle (PM2.5) air quality standards. While the great majority of the nation’s counties meet the new health-based standards, all or part of 225 counties nationwide, as well as the District of Columbia, are not in attainment with the standards.

For Pennsylvania, EPA kept the same number of counties in its designation—22 (the state had recommended 13), but reduced the area designated within five counties – Allegheny, Armstrong, Greene, Indiana and Lawrence.

In July the Department of Environmental Protection submitted comments to EPA saying they were opposed to designations EPA suggested because they were based on an “arbitrary scoring process.”

“These partial county designations, which DEP requested, represent a significant victory that will enable us to target air quality improvements without unnecessarily burdening the region,” Secretary McGinty said. “Previously, EPA applied a ‘one size fits all approach’ that was not appropriate and put Pennsylvania at a disadvantage in terms of economic competitiveness in areas that do not violate the standards.”

EPA also concurred with the DEP’s recommendation to create a sub-county area within Allegheny County. This separate nonattainment area, which comprises Clairton, Glassport, Liberty, Lincoln and Port Vue, will allow the state and local agencies and area stakeholders to address attainment timing issues and the unique air quality problems that exist in the area.

However, the state remains concerned that EPA’s decision to include the area surrounding the North Braddock monitor in the more extensive Pittsburgh-Beaver Valley nonattainment area, which suffers from upwind pollution, will adversely affect efforts to develop a cost-effective plan expeditiously to attain the fine particulate health-based standard and hamper economic vitality by requiring disproportionate emission reduction measures.

“We firmly believe that air pollution from large industrial sources must be addressed on a national or regional basis to reduce the interstate transport of air pollution and ensure equitable emission reduction programs that do not unfairly give one region an advantage over another in terms of public health and economic growth,” Secretary McGinty said.

DEP also maintains that Butler, Mercer, Bucks, Montgomery and Lebanon counties should be designated as attainment areas, contrary to EPA’s final decision. Secretary McGinty said the department intends promptly to verify the fine particulate matter monitoring data for 2004 to determine if these or other areas in the Commonwealth should be attainment areas.

“The unfair stance the EPA is taking with regard to regulating PM2.5 pollution puts southwestern Pennsylvania at a competitive disadvantage compared to other regions across the United States,” said F. Michael Langley, Chief Executive Officer of the Allegheny Conference. “A nonattainment designation can make the difference in whether or not a particular county makes the list to be considered for business relocation and expansion.”

Kathryn Klaber, Vice President of the Allegheny Conference, noted that “data from Carnegie Mellon University shows that as much as 80 percent of PM2.5 pollution in southwestern Pennsylvania comes from areas outside of our region, and EPA’s own analyses show that with the exception of the Mon Valley, southwestern Pennsylvania would not have a PM2.5 pollution problem if interstate transport were controlled. The best solution for both the environment and economic development is for EPA to address interstate transport first, and only regulate any residual PM2.5 problems.”

Harold Miller, Director of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Growth Alliance, explained the designations’ effects on the Pittsburgh region’s economy. “These nonattainment designations will have a chilling effect on economic development in southwestern Pennsylvania, while having little improvement on air quality. Moreover, because the implementing regulations have not yet been announced, many of our existing businesses, particularly manufacturing businesses, may be unable to expand or add new jobs because of the uncertainty about the implementation requirements.”

States with nonattainment areas must submit plans by early 2008 that outline how they will meet the PM2.5 standards. They are expected to attain clean air as soon as possible and not later than 2010. EPA can grant one five-year extension for areas with more severe problems. The attainment date for those areas would be 2015.

Thirty states and their 2,909 counties received the good news that they meet PM2.5 air quality standards. These states will need to continue their progress by sustaining clean air. “The Particle Pollution Report: Current Understanding of Air Quality and Emissions through 2003,” issued earlier this week reported that 2003 PM levels were the lowest since monitoring began.

NewsClip: Regional air quality not up to EPA snuff

EPA Says 22 PA counties fail to meet clean air standards

EPA Orders PA to Reduce Soot

 EPA Designates 18 Counties, Parts of Four Others on PM 2.5

EPA Says Soot Pollution in Region Still Too High

12/17/2004