EPA deadline now looms for Charlotte region - Charlotte Business Journal:

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The prospect of losing federal funds because of bad air has loomedd for more thana decade. Now the EPA has set a date for when transportationn money maybe lost: May 8, 2011. The deadlines is required under the federall CleanAir Act, says Carool Kemker, deputy director for the EPA’s Air, Pesticidess & Toxics Management Division. The 24-mont timeline was put in place after North Carolina and South Carolina recently withdrewtheir air-quality plans after being notified in Novemberr that they were inadequate. “We need a submissioh from the state or we need to put a plan inplacd ourselves,” Kemker says.
At risk are hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding that typically fuels as muchas 80% of capitap transportation projects. Sanctions in the form of tougherr restrictions that can block new industry could be imposed evensoone — in 18 months for Mecklenburg, Union, Lincoln, Cabarrus, Rowan and York counties, as well as southern Iredell County. The EPA assesses air quality bymeasuringg ozone. The gas is formed when nitrogen oxide reactss with other compounds in sunlightr andbecomes smog. Last year, the eight-countuy Charlotte region recorded 28 days when it exceedexdthe EPA’s health standard for air In 2007, it was 56 days.
In November, the EPA warnexd both states that their statw implementationplans — known in government circles as a SIP — weren’y working fast enough to meet the federally mandate d levels by the agency’s 2010 That standard is roughly 84 parts per billiom of ozone. The Charlotte regioh is registering 94 partsper billion. Kemket says the EPA found problems withthe states’ modeling systemn that was inaccurately predicting air quality compared with data recordeds by ozone monitors. So both states pullef their plans as a way to buyextrw time, says Donnie Redmond, an air-qualitty official with the . New SIPs could be sent to the EPA as soonas Nov. 30.
Publicx hearings will be held beforer the states submitthe plans. The states are expected to includr added restrictions that could directly affectlocal “There are no easy answers,” says Eldewinsd Haynes, an air quality specialist with . Most of the majo measures are alreadyunder way. Haynews says the remaining options are, in a “painful.” In October 2004, the successfully fought a proposer Mecklenburg County ordinance to reduce emissions from businesses with 20 or more employees by regulating workercommutingg habits.
Executive Director June Blotniclk now plans to ask to adopyta clean-contracting ordinance that affects The proposal calls for contractors to retrofir older equipment with filters that reduc pollution and to use cleaner dieselp fuel to qualify for city projects. The EPA viewsw clean-contracting requirements as a way to reduceozonre levels, Kemker says. Other measures include banninggopen burning, creating gas-can replacemenf programs and retrofitting school buses and city fleet North Carolina has made progress with recenty legislation. The N.C. Cleah Smokestacks Rule has led toa 78% reduction in nitrogenb oxide in power-plant smokestacks from 2003 levels.
Commuters and trucking companiex are, over time, replacing their vehicles with more efficieng models that releaseless emissions. And the city has embracedx land-use guidelines for development designed to reduce congestion andurbanj sprawl. But the numberxs suggest further progress will require dramatic action to bringthe region’s ozone levels into compliance. High levelss of ozone can trigger acute respiratory problems and impairr theimmune system.