Apr 16 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Susan Hylton Tulsa World, Okla.


This year is the critical year that will determine whether Tulsa County will violate the national standard for ozone and wind up on the "dirty air list," a DEQ official said Wednesday.

The state's two metropolitan counties -- Tulsa and Oklahoma -- already had two monitoring sites exceeding the .075 parts per million ozone standard in 2008, records show.

The non-attainment areas will be designated in March 2010, said Scott Thomas, an environmental programs manager for the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality. Thomas' statements came during a DEQ Air Quality Advisory Council meeting in Tulsa Wednesday.

The non-attainment determination will be based on averaging three years of data from 2007 through 2009.

Ozone levels in 2007 and 2008 are actually much improved from 2006 ozone levels. Thomas said it was hot with little wind and rain in 2006, which caused the ozone to stick around.

This year so far, ozone levels in Tulsa are in compliance, but the city's "Ozone Alert!" program, which runs May through September, hasn't begun yet.

If the Tulsa or Oklahoma City areas are placed on the EPA's "dirty air list," requirements include the following:

Perform a complete inventory of all sites that contribute to air pollution within two years of designation, and repeat every three years until attainment is reached.

Provide evidence that new roads and bridges or improvements to them do not exacerbate the ozone problem.

New facilities

in the non-attainment area must offset or reduce their emissions.

Attain the federal ozone standard within three years. Two, one-year extensions may be obtained.

Officials do not know how much it would cost Tulsa or Oklahoma City to comply with the requirements.

Pete White, a member of the air quality board and an Oklahoma City councilman, questioned the method of determining non-attainment by measuring what is produced within a geographic area. White leans toward source monitoring.

"My bias is transportation is the main one," he said. "We're so addicted to our transportation."

Thomas said DEQ has a rough idea of ozone sources: a third from transportation, a third from the biogenic emissions of plants, and a third from industrial sources such as refineries and power plants.

Eddie Terrill, division director of DEQ's Air Quality Division, said bigger cities may never be able to reach attainment due to the numerous industrial air pollution sources that are stationary. That's why the EPA is active in promoting cleaner fuels and fuel efficiency, Terrill said.

"It would be easier in Oklahoma City if we had mass transit and people would use it," Terrill said.

One of the repercussions of being on a dirty air list is that cities may have a hard time attracting business.

Thomas said limiting the size of the non-attainment area would be part of the negotiations with the EPA if non-attainment is reached.

Terrill said there's no sense in making large non-attainment areas when a good wind could bring it back into compliance.

In a March 9 letter to EPA's region 6, Gov. Brad Henry indicates he will recommend non-attainment areas be smaller than the EPA's default metropolitan statistical area due to the rural nature of counties bordering the metropolitan areas.

Susan Hylton 581-8381 susan.hylton@tulsaworld.com

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