Southeast Missouri counties meet ozone standard

Southeast Missouri has escaped restrictions on future business expansions under new ozone level attainment designations released last week.

The Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with a proposed rule to implement the 2008 National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ground-level ozone. This standard proposed to be set at 75 parts per billion.

"We're clearly in compliance with the standard as it stands right now," said David Grimes, deputy director of the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission, who heads its Air Quality Committee.

At the end of 2011, the ozone monitor at Ste. Genevieve had an average reading of 70 parts per billion while the monitor in Perry County had an average reading of 73 parts per billion. But those monitors weren't always under the 2008 ozone limit.

In 2009, Ste. Genevieve and Perry counties were recommended by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to the EPA as nonattainment areas based on monitoring data from 2006 to 2008. Before the recommendation was acted upon, the EPA began considering lowering the acceptable ozone level set in 2008 under the Bush administration. EPA officials had been considering a standard between 60 and 70 parts per billion.

Local economic development officials had feared a lower ozone standard would result in some Southeast Missouri counties being designated nonattainment zones where new or expanding businesses would face emission restrictions.

Last fall, however, President Barack Obama announced that the reconsideration process for ground-level ozone standards would be discontinued.

So now, enforcement of the 2008 standard is moving forward, Grimes said.

Public comments

The EPA is now accepting public comments via email at a-and-r-docket@epa.gov on the preliminary ozone classifications. Comments should be identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2010-0885.

The EPA plans to make final designations this spring, and then the states must help their nonattainment counties get back into compliance.

"EPA sets the standards and then it's up to the states to reach those standards," said Renee Bungart, DNR spokeswoman. "DNR will work with those counties on that and come up with a plan to address it and bring them back into attainment."

In December, the DNR revised its 2008 recommendations for ozone nonattainment zones to the EPA, Bungart said. Based on monitored ozone values between 2008 and 2010, the earlier recommendation for both Perry and Ste. Genevieve counties was changed from nonattainment to attainment, she said.

Only four Missouri counties -- St. Louis, St. Charles, Franklin and Jefferson -- were recommended by the DNR to the EPA as nonattainment zones, she said.

"For now, we should be happy," Grimes said. "This is about as good as we could have hoped for."

Grimes sees it as only a temporary reprieve, however, because ozone standards will be up for EPA review again in 2013. The EPA re-evaluates national air quality standards every five years.

mmiller@semissourian.com

388-3646

Pertinent address:

98 Grand Ave., Perryville, MO

Farrar, MO