Austin narrowly avoids penalties for air quality

By Eric Pulsifer Wednesday, 25 November 2009

AUSTIN — Following a regional push to improve air quality, Austin will remain in compliance with federal standards pertaining to ground-level ozone, or smog, and avoid being designated a nonattainment area by the Environmental Protection Agency, a designation that could have placed fines and restrictions on business, government and transportation.

“We stayed in attainment. Our [average level] is 75 parts per billion, and the standard is 75 ppb. We couldn’t have gotten any closer,” said Deanna Altenhoff, executive director of the CLEAN AIR Force of Central Texas.

Ozone season

On April 1, the 2009 ozone season began, and with it, concerns that Central Texas could face penalties under new, tougher federal standards relating to ozone levels.

A high concentration of ground-level ozone, caused by humans, is a health hazard. It is different from naturally occurring ozone, which is high in the stratosphere.

The seven-month ozone season, the time when ozone is typically most prevalent because of the summer sun, came to a close Oct. 31. This year’s highest ozone days occurred between May 20 and July 2.

The EPA-designated Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area includes the counties of Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis and Williamson, meaning the five-county region would be affected by nonattainment status.

Attainment of the ozone standard is based on the three-year average of the fourth highest ozone reading recorded for each of the three years. The fourth highest ozone reading from the 2009 season was 76 ppb. This number was averaged with the fourth highest reading from 2008, 74 ppb, and the fourth highest reading from 2007, 76 ppb, to determine the three-year average the EPA evaluates.

The attainment standard for ozone quality was lowered to 75 ppb in 2008. Based on the 2006-08 average of 77 ppb at an ozone monitor in northwest Austin, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality recommended the EPA designate Travis County in nonattainment of the new standard. With the 2007-09 average just at the necessary average of 75 ppb, the region just avoided nonattainment status for this year.

Penalties for nonattainment

EPA-designated nonattainment areas, like Houston or Dallas, face state and federal regulations designed to curb ozone levels and get the region back within compliance. These restrictions can remain in place for 20 years after the region returns to compliance.

In an interview this summer, Mayor Lee Leffingwell said nonattainment status can present many problems for a region.

“You are going to begin to lose federal funds, for a lot of purposes, including new highway construction,” he said. “You’re going to begin to require new rules and regulations. For example, automobile emissions testing is going to be a requirement.”

Maintaining attainment

To lower ozone levels, many Central Texas businesses, governments and individuals took part in the Big Push, a voluntary effort to reduce emissions. Those efforts, as well as a decrease in pollution coming from the northeast and some rainy weather near the end of the season, helped keep the region’s ozone level at the level necessary to keep attainment status.

While cities like Houston see a majority of their smog from industry, Austin’s smog comes mainly from fossil fuels burned in cars and used to produce electricity. To lower Central Texas ozone levels, Altenhoff said individuals and businesses can do two simple things: drive less and conserve electricity.

While the region avoided nonattainment status this year, Central Texas is not out of the woods yet. The EPA is reevaluating the ozone standard and will make a proposal in December on what the new ozone standard should be, possibly to a more strict level between 60 and 70 ppb.

“Does [raising the standard] make it more challenging for us to meet it? Most definitely, but we have to keep in mind that this is for public health, so we want it to be what it needs to be,” Altenhoff said. “I think our region is very environmentally conscious, and it came together as a group this year and really helped to make a positive difference. I think we can do it again.”

That standard would not be finalized until next August, after a period of public comment and review. What years the EPA chooses to use for averaging could present a problem. If the standard becomes more strict and involves looking at the past three years, the region’s barely passable numbers could keep the three-year average too high to remain in attainment.

No matter what the new standard is, Altenhoff said she believes the region is up to the challenge.

“This past ozone season was a prime example of how fast people can make something happen if we get them coordinated and working together,” she said. “It can have an immediate impact over the course of the summer.”

To help inform those looking to make a difference during ozone season, the CLEAN AIR Force of Central Texas offers e-mail alerts the day prior to high ozone days.

“It’s geared to get people to plan ahead, to let them know the day before high ozone is expected because we don’t want them to contribute to those levels even more,” Altenhoff said.

To sign up for ozone action day e-mail alerts, visit www.cleanairforce.org.