Wasatch Front counties violating new, stricted ozone rules

The Utah Department of Environmental Quality lists Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, Utah, Box Elder and Tooele counties as all currently in violation of the new 2008 federal 8-hour ozone standard announced Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"We're going to have to figure out how we're going to meet the new standard," said state DEQ director Cheryl Heying. "My experience is the standards get tighter and we continue to meet them.

"We do it," she added. "It's a new standard. We will work and figure out a way to do it and move forward."

By 2010 the EPA will begin designating non-attainment areas. That gives states three years to write implementation plans. Counties in violation of the new ozone standard could end up losing federal highway funds.

"That's the way they get our attention," Heying said. "But we never get to that point because we take it seriously."

Revised for the first time in over 10 years at 75 parts per billion, down from the 80 ppb old standard, the EPA estimates there are 345 monitored counties across the country that would violate the new standard. Based on data the EPA used from 2004-2006 monitoring, Washington County would also be in violation of the new ozone standard.

EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson said in a statement that the nation's air is cleaner today than a generation ago.

"By meeting the requirement of the Clean Air Act and strengthening the national standard for ozone, EPA is keeping our clean air progress moving forward," he said. By signing off on the new standard, Johnson said the Clean Air Act must be modernized and overhauled to turn "paper promises" into cleaner air. The EPA claims a 21 percent drop in ozone levels nationwide since 1980.

Prior to the new standard being set, the 2008 Utah Legislature had already appropriated $2 million to help meet air quality regulations. Heying said the extra money, in part, came in anticipation of the EPA's new standard, which the EPA calls its most stringent 8-hour standard ever for ozone.

Ozone pollution can result from a variety of sources. In Salt Lake County half of the culprit is people driving their cars, Heying said. The rest tends to come mostly from industry. The EPA states that ground-level ozone forms when emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds "cook" in the sun. Power plants, vehicle exhaust, industry, chemical solvents and gasoline vapors are all to blame.