WildEarth Guardians Calls on EPA to Slash Smog Pollution in the American West, Safeguard Public Health

Clean Air Act Petition Filed to Fix Flawed Clean Air Regulations in 16 Western States, Tackle Interstate Transport of Air Pollution

DENVER-WildEarth Guardians today petitioned the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take aggressive action to safeguard public health and the environment and cut ozone air pollution throughout the American West.

“The American West is facing an unprecedented challenge in addressing the impacts of ozone air pollution,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians. “For the sake of public health, we’re calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to help us meet this challenge head on.”

Ozone air pollution-the key ingredient of smog-is a poisonous gas that forms when sunlight reacts with pollution from tailpipes, smokestacks, and industrial operations, such as oil and gas drilling. It can scar the lungs of children, trigger asthma attacks, and cause premature death. Federal standards limit ozone concentrations in the air to no more than 0.075 parts per million over an eight-hour period, a very small concentration, reflecting the danger of this pollutant.

The petition comes as mounting evidence shows the American West will be blanketed in smog by 2018. Already, many areas suffering from harmful levels of ozone air pollution. Denver, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and other cities have violated federal clean air standards limiting ozone. However the problem is spreading, even affecting rural communities.

Air quality in northwestern New Mexico and western Wyoming violated ozone limits this year, while hazardous ozone days were reported from remote areas like southern Utah’s Zion National Park and Nevada’s Great Basin National Park.

Recent modeling projects further clean air declines in the American West. By 2018, all or portions of 16 Western States are expected to exceed ozone air pollution limits. The modeling, prepared for the Western Regional Air Partnership, which is associated with the Western Governors’ Association, projects ozone levels will be highest over much of the Southwestern United States and Southern Idaho.

The modeling also shows that ozone is a regional problem in the American West due to interstate transport of pollution. A draft white paper prepared for the Western Regional Air Partnership stated, “[C]ontrary to assessments of the impacts of the new ozone standards based on EPA’s model predictions, WRAP’s modeling efforts highlight the regional nature of the ozone air quality problem throughout the Western US.” The white paper continued, “Within the WRAP region, the ozone air quality problem is clearly a regional issue, as evidenced by regional [ozone] modeling results[.]”

Transport of ozone air pollution is a widely known problem the Eastern United States, but has largely been overlooked in the American West. Mounting evidence shows that slashing smog will require regional solutions that address transport among the Western States.

“With air quality projected to worsen throughout the West, we need regional solutions, not piecemeal plans or fingerpointing,” said Nichols. “The Environmental Protection Agency can provide the leadership and direction needed to put the West on the path toward clean air.”

WildEarth Guardians’ petition today is an urgent call on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take an aggressive, comprehensive, and expeditious approach to tackling ozone air pollution in the American West, as required by the Clean Air Act. The petition calls on the agency to:

Force 16 Western States to revise their air quality regulations to strengthen ozone air pollution safeguards by 2013. Modeling shows that air quality regulations in the West are failing or will soon exceed limits on ozone air pollution.

Designate a Western States Interstate Transport Region within 18 months. The designation of an Interstate Transport Region will prioritize the development of regional solutions to tackle ozone air pollution.

Create a Western States Ozone Interstate Transport Commission. Interstate Transport Commissions are charged with assessing the degree of transport, assessing strategies for combating interstate transport, and recommending strategies for adoption by the EPA.

The petition will also help to focus attention on identifying the key sources of ozone forming pollution and on cutting emissions from sources that contribute most significantly to the regional problem. It is likely that coal-fired power plants, oil and gas drilling operations, cars and trucks, and other industrial sources will be targeted for emission cuts.

“Ultimately, this is about clean energy and smart growth,” said Nichols. “We need to chart a sustainable path forward for the West, that means shifting away from fossil fuels and unchecked growth, and shifting toward renewable energy, efficiency, and smarter planning.”

The petition ultimately requests the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to follow through with basic legal obligations under the Clean Air Act, the nation’s fundamental law protecting public health and welfare from air pollution.

WildEarth Guardians is a nonprofit dedicated to protecting and restoring the American West and is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico with offices in Denver, Phoenix, Bozeman, and Oakland, CA.

View the petition here.


 

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