Summer ozone levels in region not as bad as feared

Ground-level ozone readings this summer haven't been as worrisome as predicted, local environmental committee members said Friday.

The Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission's environmental quality committee, a group of government officials and business leaders from area counties, discussed implications for when air-quality standards change soon, among other issues, at their quarterly meeting in Perryville, Missouri.

Lower standards that will be set soon by the Environmental Protection Agency could lead to Perry and Ste. Genevieve counties classified as "nonattainment areas" if readings at two area monitors exceed the amount of ground-level ozone, or smog, allowed in the air.

Ground-level ozone is created when pollution from vehicles, industry and naturally occurring gases, such as from plant decay, combine with heat and sunlight, making summer "ozone season."

Levels of ground-level ozone during the past several years at monitors in Perry and Ste. Genevieve counties came in just under the current allowable standard, but a three-year average is used to classify nonattainment.

The committee has worried the area will be given a nonattainment status if ozone levels rise too much in 2015, saying the status will subject industries to costly and strict permitting and process-review regulations that can stunt economic development.

At the same time, there appears to be little the region can do to limit pollutants that contribute to ozone, but the committee still should encourage people to "stop at the click" when pumping gasoline and mow only in the early morning or late evening to help curb emissions, commission deputy David Grimes said.

So far, there has only been one exceeding of allowable readings at the monitors.

"We got by with some really bad weather and had good readings, so I am taking that as a win," Grimes said.

The committee also heard from a representative of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources about plans for an agency initiative to evaluate watersheds throughout the state.

Jennifer Hoggatt, statewide coordinator for the Our Missouri Waters initiative, said the DNR will join with the planning commission to establish a local advisory committee to evaluate the Upper Mississippi-Cape Girardeau watershed, which roughly includes a southern section of Ste. Genevieve County, most of Perry County, northern and eastern sections of Cape Girardeau County and some of Southern Illinois.

The DNR will look at several watersheds each year for five years until all 66 in the state have been evaluated, Hoggatt said. The initiative is part of the state's process in creating a new comprehensive water plan.

"We want to come and have some conversations about what folks know about their water, their watershed, what value that water has for them, what they are using it for," Hoggatt said, "and is it important for your economy, or for your health, and really just hear about resources for water."

Hoggatt said the DNR would like to see priorities for water identified by the local advisory committees.

The environmental quality committee will hold its next meeting Oct. 23 in Perryville.

eragan@semissourian.com

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1 W. St. Joseph St., Perryville, MO