Washington (Platts)--22Jun2007

The Environmental Protection Agency proposed a more stringent ozone standard
Thursday, saying the current standard is insufficient to meet public health
needs.

EPA is recommending an 8-hour ozone standard within a range of 0.070 to 0.075
parts per million. The current standard is 0.08 ppm. The agency also said it
would take comments on alternative standards that could range from 0.060 ppm
up to the current 0.08 ppm. 

"Based upon current science, the current standard is insufficient to protect
public health," EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson told reporters during a
teleconference. "I'm a 26-year veteran scientist and as administrator, there
is no scientific justification for retaining the current standard."

Johnson went on to say that the studies EPA has done in the last several years
suggest that ozone is a more significant problem than originally believed.

The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, which advises the administrator
on air-quality issues, recently called for a tighter standard of 0.07 ppm (CO
05/7).

"Public health concerns are paramount, but we don't think EPA has fully made a
case for tightening the standard, particularly given that air quality will
continue to improve under existing air quality requirements," Edison Electric
Institute spokesman Dan Riedinger told Platts in an e-mail. "Hopefully, EPA's
public review process will shed light on some inconsistencies in the
scientific record underlying the agency's proposal."

Power sector responsible for just 10% of ozone 

"The power sector currently produces roughly just 10% of US emissions related
to ozone formation," John Kinsman, EEI director of air quality programs, said
in a statement. "Specifically, the utility industry is responsible for about
20% of the nation's nitrogen oxides emissions and less than 0.5% of volatile
organic compound emissions. These two substances can react in sunlight during
the summer months to form ground-level ozone."

According to EEI, power plants reduced NOx emissions 40% between 1980 and
2004, and these emissions will go down by an additional 50% by 2015. Electric
generators in the East have reduced summertime ozone emissions on average by
72% since 1990, EEI estimates, and the group projects that emissions will drop
even further under the Clean Air Interstate Rule.

-- Regina Johnson, regina_johnson@platts.com

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