2010.01.06 Press Release
Proposed New EPA Ozone Rule Will Mean Less Pollution, Cleaner Air, and Healthier Texans, a great way to start the New Year!
Contact: Eva Hernandez, Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign, 404-717-3328; Neil Carman, Sierra Club Clean Air Program Director, 512-663-9594 or 512-299-5776;
Texas Medical Communities, State Legislators, and Environmental Groups Welcome U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)s new, health-based Ozone Rule
(Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio) -- Texas State Legislators, the medical community including the American Lung Association and Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sierra Club, Public Citizen, and local environmental groups and Texas citizens welcomed a major announcement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of a new air quality standard limiting ozone pollution. The proposed rule is a revision to a less protective rule proposed by the Bush Administration at the end of the last president’s term. The Bush EPA’s proposed rule was challenged in court because it did not meet recommendations based on over 1,700 scientific studies.
“The new EPA proposal for a health-based ozone rule is like a bright shining ray of hope to start the new year,” said Neil Carman, former Texas air regulator and Clean Air Program Director with the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. “The scientific evidence clearly indicates that ozone is a harmful respiratory irritant at lower concentrations than was previously recognized. The new ozone rule will mean cleaner air and healthier people in Texas.”
Health Impacts of Ozone Pollution
Ozone in the atmosphere comes from major industrial sources such as coal plants, cement kilns, refineries and chemical plants; smaller yet numerous sources including gasoline service stations and paint shops; our vehicles in traffic, off-road, heavy construction equipment; and natural gas drilling. [See attached “Fact Sheet: Major Sources of Ozone in Texas.”] The nitrogen oxide emissions and volatile organic compounds from these sources form ozone and create smog. The ozone smog in the air that we breathe is a major contributing factor to asthma, respiratory illnesses, and heart disease.
"There is excellent evidence that ozone pollution reduces lung growth in children and increases problems with asthma control. One major source of ozone from nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds -- coal combustion also releases sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, mercury, and dozens of other substances known to be hazardous to human health," said Dr. Don Williams, an Austin pediatric hospital physician. "These health effects from coal plants lead to damage to the respiratory, cardiovascular, and nervous systems and contribute to four of the top five leading causes of death in the U.S.: heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic lower respiratory diseases."
Three metropolitan areas of Texas – Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston/Galveston, and Beaumont/Port Arthur are currently in ‘non-attainment’ of the present, less-protective EPA ozone standard. When the proposed new ozone rule revision becomes the standard, the number of Texas regions becoming in ‘non-attainment’ of the clean air standards will likely double. Austin, East Texas/Longview/ Tyler/Marshall, El Paso, and San Antonio will be in attainment of the 70 ppb standard. The following areas will become borderline and possibly non-attainment: Corpus Christi, Victoria/Goliad, and Waco/Temple.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) with supervision by the EPA have been responsible for creating plans and programs and tracking progress to reduce emissions in Texas. Texas asthma rates have almost doubled in the past ten years and the TCEQ has permitted several new coal-fired power plants which would be major new sources of ozone pollution if they go into operation.
[See Health Impacts fact sheet -- http://www.texas.sierraclub.org/press/newsreleases/HealthImpactsfromTexasCoalPlantPollution.pdf ]
"Breathing ozone can kill. Short-term increases in ozone were found to increase deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory causes in a large 14-year study in 95 U.S. cities. Even on days when pollution levels were below the EPA's current standard, the relationship between mortality and ozone was evident," said Cynthia Redwine, Director of Environmental Health for the American Lung Association in Texas. “The Clean Air Act requires that the EPA set the standard based on the need to protect public health ‘with an adequate margin of safety.’ In 2002, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that protecting health was the only basis for the standard. Overwhelming evidence shows that the 2008 standard failed to meet the requirements of the law and protect public health from serious harm." [See attached document “EPA Reconsiders the Ozone Air Quality Standard” by the American Lung Association.]
When the proposed new ozone rule becomes the standard in August 2010, the EPA will require the TCEQ to prepare and submit a State Implementation Plan for Texas that must dramatically reduce ozone pollution. This will require significant new pollution controls and, environmentalists say, will lead to alternative energy and transportation choices and ultimately, safer air to breathe.
Coal Plant Pollution, Major Source of Ozone
Coal plant nitrogen oxides emissions are the largest categorical source of ozone in the State. Texas has 17 existing dirty coal plants and more proposed new coal plants, 12, than any other state in the nation.
[ http://www.texas.sierraclub.org/press/newsreleases/RBCFactSheet.pdf ] Sierra Club, Public Citizen, and local citizens’ organizations have challenged the new coal plant permits and are working to clean up and phase out existing dirty coal plants. They favor clean energy solutions such as implementing sweeping energy efficiency measures and expanding more renewable energy such as wind, solar, and geothermal power.
“Texas is at an energy crossroads. Coal-fired power plants are one of the heaviest single sources of ozone pollution in the state and we have the opportunity, actually the requirement now, to review existing coal plant permits and halt building new coal plants. We also need to implement smarter transportation solutions. It’s time to move toward a clean energy future for Texas. The EPA's proposed new ozone rule means a bounding spring forward in that process,” said Eva Hernandez, Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal organizer in Texas. “The good news is we have the know-how and the clean energy resources in our state. The TCEQ and other state and local government in Texas, Texas businesses and Texas citizens will all have to help. For our economy, it means clean, green jobs. For our oceans, lakes and parks, it means cleaner water and safer recreation. For our children and families, it means healthier air.”
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The following organizations participated in today’s press events in Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio: American Lung Association in Texas, Down Winders at Risk (DFW), Energia Mia (San Antonio), Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention, Interfaith Environmental Alliance, Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Alamo, Austin, Dallas, Houston, and Coastal Bend Sierra Club groups, People Organized in Defense of Earth & her Resources (Austin), Physicians for Social Responsibility (Austin, Dallas, Houston), Public Citizen Texas Office, ReEnergize Texas, Robertson County: Our Land, Our Lives, and the South West Public Workers Union.
An EPA 60-day comment period on the proposed ozone rule revision will begin this week. Take action to comment here: http://www.sierraclub.org/coal/tx
Contact: Eva Hernandez, Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign, 404-717-3328; Neil Carman, Sierra Club Clean Air Program Director, 512-663-9594 or 512-299-5776;