State air panel OKs 'unclassifiable' ozone designation for Cape Girardeau County

Southeast Missouri political and business leaders won a split decision Tuesday when the Missouri Air Conservation Commission named two counties as having excessive ozone pollution but excluded two others, including Cape Girardeau County.

The decision, which ratified the revised staff recommendation from the Department of Natural Resources' Air Pollution Control Program, must be approved by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. New regulations reflecting the designations could be in place sometime in late 2010 or early 2011, said Jeff Bennett, air quality modeling chief with the air pollution control program.

Perry County, based on readings at an ozone monitor near Farrar, Mo., will be listed as a "nonattainment" area, as will Ste. Genevieve County, which also has a monitor. Cape Girardeau County and St. Francois County were listed as "unclassifiable," which means there isn't enough information to conclude they contribute significantly to the ozone problem found by the monitors.

When the DNR made its original recommendation, Cape Girardeau County was tied to Perry County in a nonattainment area. The recommendation caused a reaction from area political leaders and business interests. Politicians wrote letters and issued news releases against the recommendation. A study presented by business interests -- Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce president John Mehner has declined to say who sponsored the report -- challenged the scientific basis of the designation.

Nonattainment is the EPA's term for areas that have ozone pollution in excess of the national standard of 75 parts per million, measured over an eight-hour period. The monitor at Farrar exceeded that level on 36 days from 2005 to 2007. There were no days in violation during 2008, an improvement aided by a cooler and wetter-than-normal summer.

If fewer than four days of violations occur in 2009, Bennett said the EPA may decide Perry County is within the standards.

Nonattainment can mean restrictions on growth as well as expenses for existing businesses.

Ozone is a three-atom molecule of oxygen. In the upper atmosphere, it protects the Earth from harmful solar radiation. At ground level, however, the gas is formed when volatile organic chemical emissions interact with nitrogen oxides and sunlight, causing smog.

The state will draft a rehabilitation plan for Perry and Ste. Genevieve counties that will outline the steps needed to make the air cleaner, Bennett said. It is too early to say what those steps will be.

St. Louis and Kansas City will continue as nonattainment areas, and new regulations must also be crafted for those areas, Bennett said. "We don't know what is going to happen in Perry County, we don't know what is going to happen in St. Louis. Existing controls will stay in place."

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors met Tuesday as well and agreed to form a regional group dedicated to crafting local solutions, Mehner said. The group will use the structures of the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission as a basis for developing ideas, Mehner said.

"It is going to look at voluntary things we can do within our region," he said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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