Proposed ozone standard could impact up to 55 counties

• Handouts from the meeting and a listing of committee membership

By Todd McGee
Communications Director

Depending on how far Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson lowers the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone, 55 North Carolina counties could be at least partially included in designated nonattainment zones when the new rule is made permanent in August 2011.

The NCACC Environment Steering Committee, which is chaired by Henderson County Commissioner Chuck McGrady, heard this news during its Nov. 5 meeting at the Albert Coates Local Government Center in Raleigh.

Jane Spann of the EPA and Bebhinn Do of the Division of Air Quality within the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) reported on proposed changes to the NAAQS currently being considered by Jackson.

The reconsideration affects both the "primary" ozone standard, designed to protect public health, and the "secondary" standard, designed to protect the environment. EPA issued the ozone standards on March 12, 2008, and set both standards at a level of 0.075 parts per million (ppm). The 2008 standards did not follow the recommendations from the EPA's panel of science advisors, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), which had recommended that the standard be reduced anywhere within a range of 0.60 ppm to 0.70 ppm.

Jackson is expected to announce her proposed changes in December. There will be a public comment period before the final rule is released, tentatively set for August 2010. Areas will then have one year to come into compliance.

Do gave a presentation on the state's attainment status. She noted that the bad ozone days in 2009 were down dramatically from previous years. She attributed it to cooler temperatures and more rain, but also said that reduction strategies are working and that some utilities have implemented scrubbers that have reduced the amount of ozone-causing pollutants released into the air.

In other matters, several representatives from the N.C. Groundwater Association provided their perspective on the role that private wells can play in the state's water supply system.

"Nothing is more important to the state of North Carolina than the future of its water," said Jerry Merrill, president of the NCGWA. "North Carolina's water has become North Carolina's oil."

According to Merrill, N.C. ranks third in the nation in number of private wells dug per year, behind only Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Members also discussed the recent changes to laws affecting county landfills and what counties are doing to comply, and received an update on the Compost Operation Stakeholder Advisory Group from steering committee member Allen Hardison, the NCACC's appointee to this advisory group. The group was created from H1100 (Stormwater Controls for Compost), which was signed into law July 17. The advisory group will hold its first meeting Dec. 9 in Raleigh.

The Environment Steering Committee also set dates for its next two meetings in 2010: Feb. 10 and May 5. Each day is a Wednesday. Meetings will be held from 1 – 4 p.m. in the Albert Coates Local Government Center auditorum.