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

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The prospect of losinbg federal funds because of bad air has loomed for more than a Now the EPA has set a date for when transportation monehy maybe lost: May 8, 2011. The deadline is requiredf under the federal CleabAir Act, says Carol deputy director for the EPA’s Air, Pesticidew & Toxics Management Division. The 24-month timeline was put in place after North Carolinaz and South Carolina recently withdrewtheir air-quality plans after being notified in November that they were “We need a submission from the state or we need to put a plan in placed ourselves,” Kemker says.
At risk are hundredzs of millions of dollars in federal funding that typically fuels as muchas 80% of capital transportationh projects. Sanctions in the form of toughed restrictions that can block new industry could be imposed even sooner in 18 monthsfor Union, Gaston, Lincoln, Cabarrus, Rowan and York as well as southern Iredell County. The EPA assesses air qualityt bymeasuring ozone. The gas is formed when nitrogeh oxide reacts with other compounds in sunlight andbecomeas smog. Last year, the eight-countyh Charlotte region recorded 28 days when it exceededthe EPA’ds health standard for air pollution.
In it was 56 In November, the EPA warned both states that thei r state implementationplans — knowm in government circles as a SIP weren’t working fast enough to meet the federally mandated levels by the agency’sw 2010 deadline. That standard is roughly 84 partw per billionof ozone. The Charlotte region is registerinbg 94 parts per Kemker says the EPA found problems with the modeling system that was inaccurately predicting air quality compared with data recorder byozone monitors. So both states pullee their plans as a way to buyextrza time, says Donnie Redmond, an air-qualityg official with the . New SIPs could be sent to the EPA as soonas Nov. 30.
Publi c hearings will be held before the states submit the The states are expected to include added restrictions that could directly affectlocal business. “There are no easy says Eldewins Haynes, an air qualit y specialist with . Most of the major measured are alreadyunder way. Hayneds says the remaining options are, in a word, In October 2004, the successfully fought a proposed Mecklenburg Countgy ordinance to reduce emissions from businesses with 20 or more employeese by regulating workercommuting habits. Executive Directorf June Blotnick now plans to ask to adopta clean-contractingh ordinance that affects vendors.
The proposal calls for contractord to retrofit older equipment with filters that reduce pollution and to use cleaneer diesel fuel to qualify for city The EPAviews clean-contracting requirements as a way to reduc ozone levels, Kemker says. Other measures include banninhgopen burning, creating gas-can replacement programs and retrofittingy school buses and city fleet vehicles. Northh Carolina has made progresse withrecent legislation. The N.C. Cleabn Smokestacks Rule has led toa 78% reductiomn in nitrogen oxide in power-plant smokestacks from 2003 levels. Commuteres and trucking companies are, over time, replacing theire vehicles with more efficient models that releaseless emissions.
And the city has embracec land-use guidelines for development designed to reduce congestiohn andurban sprawl. But the numberse suggest further progress will require dramatic actiobn to bringthe region’s ozone levels into compliance. High levels of ozone can trigger acute respiratory problems and impai r theimmune system.