Saturday, April 17, 2004
Columbiana, Mahoning, Trumbull and Mercer counties are out of compliance.
STAFF/WIRE REPORTS
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning and Trumbull counties, nudged out of compliance by new air pollution standards announced Thursday, should be able to meet the stricter requirements by 2009 as required.
"We, along with the Sharon, Pa., area, are in the 'basic' designation, which means we have less of a problem than those areas in the 'moderate' designation," said Robert Ramhoff, director of the Mahoning/Trumbull Pollution Control Agency, a division of the Youngstown City Health District.
The local pollution control agency takes samples of the air at several sites around the two-county area during the ozone season, which is April through October, and sends the samples to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for evaluation, Ramhoff said.
The new standards will require some changes, which will be dictated by the state, Ramhoff said.
"You have to control the high temperature combustion sources, such as power plants and vehicles," Ramhoff said.
E-check in question
One of the questions raised by the release of a list of 33 Ohio counties that don't comply with clean air laws: What's the future of E-check?
The vehicle emissions test, now conducted in 14 counties, has angered motorists for the eight years it has been in place. People complain about damage caused by the rollers the cars are driven on, the $19.95 cost and the repairs they must make if their car fails the test.
Under the ratings the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released Thursday, only counties in the Cleveland-Akron-Lorain area would face mandatory vehicle testing. Those counties were classified as in "moderate nonattainment."
However, counties in the Cincinnati and Dayton-Springfield areas, where vehicles also are tested, fell into the basic nonattainment category and are not believed to require the tests. The EPA has yet to set the rules to implement the changes the 33 counties face.
"They're going to have to have a new implementation plan, but it could mean E-check goes away in those counties, potentially," said Kurt Waltzer, clean air associate for the Ohio Environmental Council.
Decisions to come
Ohio EPA spokeswoman Heidi Griesmer agreed that could happen, but it's too early to tell exactly what the classifications will bring.
"We'll have to do motor vehicles some way," Griesmer said. "It doesn't necessary mean we'll have E-check."
The whole testing program could change at the end of next year, when the contract with the testing company expires, she said.
One of the ways of testing vehicle emissions that is being talked about is equipping them with on-board diagnostics that can be read rather than doing an E-check, Ramhoff said.
That is already being done in Northeast and Southwest Ohio, said Griesmer. Vehicles that were built in 1996 and after have diagnostics that can be read in about a minute.
The county designation has been long awaited, since the EPA in 1997 issued tougher health standards for ground-level ozone and fine soot because of concern that the requirements were not adequately protecting the elderly, children and people with respiratory illnesses.
For the first time, ozone was measured in eight-hour tests that replaced a one-hour standard considered to be less accurate.
Counties in the basic category will have to reduce emissions at power plants and other standing-structure pollution sources if there is expansion of existing operations or new construction of plants that emit pollutants, said John Mooney, an environmental specialist for EPA Region 5, which includes Ohio and other Midwestern states.
Mahoning Valley facilities
The Youngstown-Warren area has some 40 major facilities, such as the Ohio Edison power plant in Niles and the General Motors Lordstown complex, that are already on schedule for certain standards. However, with the new requirements, they might have to do more, Ramhoff said.
Sources of that magnitude are going to be looked at, and state OEPA scientists will determine what has to be done, he said.
Small sources, such as lawn mowers and leaf blowers and chain saws, will also be looked at, Ramhoff said. Residents may be asked to mow at night and use fuel containers that trap gasoline vapors and have spill-proof spouts.
Also, Ramhoff said, manufacturers might be required to make modifications in product lines to reduce the amounts of pollutants.