Emerson: Proposed ozone nonattainment designation for area counties 'misguided and unfounded'

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson weighed in Wednesday on the question of whether three Southeast Missouri counties should be named as nonattainment areas for ozone pollution.

Emerson, in a news release announcing her letter of objection to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, called the designation "misguided and unfounded."

The letter was sent as the DNR's Air Conservation Commission is preparing to hold a public hearing today on ozone pollution and which counties should be included in nonattainment areas. In the letter, Emerson said Cape Girardeau County and St. Francois County should not be included at all and questioned whether a designation for Perry County, where a pollution monitor has show elevated ozone levels, would be accurate.

A pollution monitor near Farrar, Mo., recorded ozone in excess of national standards each year from 2005 to 2007. Ozone pollution has not exceeded the standard so far this year.

Staff from the DNR Air Pollution Control Program have recommended that Perry and Cape Girardeau counties be included in a new nonattainment area, while St. Francois County would join Ste. Genevieve County in an expanded St. Louis nonattainment area.

The nonattainment designation can result in additional rules for new pollution permits as well as restrictions on the growth of existing industries. In some cases, such as St. Louis, the designation can also mean vehicle emission testing and mandatory installation of vapor recovery systems at gas stations.

Ozone is a form of oxygen that is beneficial in the stratosphere but harmful at ground level. At ground level, it is formed when sunlight interacts with nitrogen oxides combining with the vapors from volatile organic chemicals. It is a key component of smog.

Emerson's letter supports an effort by the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission to block the designation. The planning commission's effort has enlisted the support of county and city governments in the region.

Emerson said the lack of air monitors in Cape Girardeau County should disqualify it from the designation. The path Highway 67 takes through St. Francois County means pollution is caused by travelers moving through the area.

"We have an ever-expanding list of economic challenges facing southern Missouri," Emerson wrote in her letter to James L. Kavanaugh, director of the air pollution program. "My constituents can ill afford at this time another inhibitor towards economic stability."

rkeller@semissourian.com

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