The Environmental Protection Agency will finalize a new ground-level ozone standard by October that could impact road development and industrial growth projects in Williamson County if it is not met.
On March 10 the Williamson County Commissioners Court approved a draft letter of suggestions and comments to the EPA to urge the agency to reconsider the severity of the impact of the possible new standards.
"I think everyone here wants clean air—that's not the issue," Precinct 1 Commissioner Lisa Birkman said. "I think what we're trying to say is we want [regulations] to be reasonable."
In Central Texas regional air-quality planning and research is done by the Capital Area Council of Governments, or CAPCOG.
Andrew Hoekzema, an air-quality program manager with CAPCOG, said one of the main things the group monitors is ground-level ozone, which is similar to smog.
"We're talking about basically a pollutant that forms in the atmosphere," Hoekzema said. "It's not directly emitted, but you have exhaust from cars and power plants and things like that interact with things like gasoline fumes and solvent fumes—that can form ground-level ozone."
The EPA is required to review the contamination standards for all major pollutants every five years as part of the Federal Clean Air Act, and in November it proposed to toughen the national ground-level ozone standard.
"The proposal was to lower the standard from a level of 75 parts per billion [total gas in the air] to somewhere in the range from 65 to 70 parts per billion," Hoekzema said. "The proposal as the EPA described it was intended to increase protections for public health and vegetation."
Hoekzema said as of 2014, Williamson County has an air quality of 69 parts per billion, which means it could fall short of the new standard.
Nonattainment
Hoekzema said if the county receives a designation of nonattainment, the county's development plans could be complicated.
"That comes with some pretty serious consequences," Hoekzema said. "First, the federal government's approvals for the region, whether it's your transportation plan or transportation project funding, rail relocation, airport expansions—those kind of things would now have to be in agreement with whatever the air-quality standards would be."
One impact of new standards to industrial growth is new or expanding businesses with high emission levels, such as manufacturing companies, will be required to install pollution-control equipment.
The business would also have to obtain offset credits from a company within the area that has reduced emissions or is no longer operating. According to the EPA, for every one ton of pollutants the new or expanding business emits, it must obtain more than one ton of emission credits from the offsetting source.
"If any new growth is going to happen, it needs to get an offset from another facility," Hoekzema said. "Then whatever regulations you have in place [for large companies] at the time you're designated get stuck in place until you come back out of attainment."
By doing so, new economic growth in nonattainment areas can occur without negatively impacting air quality in the area over time, he said.
The EPA must finalize the new standard by Oct. 1, and although it is not scheduled to indicate areas of nonattainment until June 2017, Hoekzema said the designations are likely to be based on ozone data from 2014 through 2016.
"When they do this compliance they do an average of ozone levels across three years," Hoekzema said. "The year that the EPA is likely to use is 2016."
If the county does not meet the standard but comes back into attainment in 2018, the soonest it could be redesignated would be 2020, he said.
"If you get designated nonattainment and come back in [to attainment], you then have to get a maintenance plan approved by the state," Hoekzema said. "That takes two years."
Effects on transportation
A designation of nonattainment would also require transportation limitations, which would remain intact for 20 years, Hoekzema said.
Asphalt limitations would go in effect, which may prohibit the use of concretes that are not environmentally friendly while restricting the use of emulsified concretes.
"With this designation of nonattainment, if there are 10 potential road projects out there, we automatically just cut those down to about seven," Precinct 4 Commissioner Ron Morrison said. "So the engineering community [and] the construction community lose those job opportunities, [and] our opportunities to build more lanes goes away."
The county addressed this in its letter to the EPA in hopes that it would re-evaluate the transportation conformities and either eliminate or shorten the 20-year period.
"Transportation is only 1 percent of the overall pie," said Bob Daigh, Williamson County senior director of infrastructure. "Especially when you consider that all of the vehicles continue to get cleaner. The gas is cleaner. The cars are cleaner every year."
County efforts
One of the main groups that addresses air quality in the area is the Central Texas Clean Air Coalition, which in affiliation with CAPCOG, has implemented a number of voluntary programs to reduce pollution.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Valerie Covey said Williamson County has worked with the Clean Air Coalition and its programs such as the Ozone Advance Program and Action Plan, which encourages area counties and cities to promote emission reducing measures.
Williamson County has enacted programs such as educating the public, conserving resources and planting trees to help reduce pollutants.
"We've been doing these things. We have lowered our rate," Covey said. "Our area is clean. The folks need to see that the issues are being addressed."
The county also participates in the Drive a Clean Machine Program, which helps drivers repair cars that fail an emissions test or replace vehicles that are more than 10 years old.
Hoekzema said that with these efforts, CAPCOG is projecting the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Williamson County, to have 67 parts per billion value in 2016.
Ozone
According to the EPA ozone and smog are similar, but smog is more complex and contains other gasses and particle pollution.
About 10 to 15 parts per billion of the ozone is emitted locally through sources such as cars and gas stations, according to CAPCOG, and the other 60 percent of Central Texas' ozone level comes from transport air from areas outside of the Austin area, outside of Texas and outside of the U.S.
Ozone levels are typically higher just before and after summer during the daytime. One measure to reduce emissions the Clean Air Coalition takes is designating an eight-hour Ozone Action Day during this time, said Morrison, who is also a member of the coalition.
On these days people are encouraged to carpool and postpone mowing the lawn or refueling vehicles until after 6 p.m.
"When you hear that it is an Ozone Action Day, it's important to pay attention to the advice they give you," Morrison said. "I don't think people realize the total impact of what's going to happen to us when we go into nonattainment."
In the most recent review conducted by the EPA, ozone can cause respiratory effects, which may be more severe for seniors and children as well as people with asthma.
The Environmental Protection Agency will finalize a new ground-level ozone standard by October that could impact road development and industrial growth projects in Williamson County if it is not met.
On March 10 the Williamson County Commissioners Court approved a draft letter of suggestions and comments to the EPA to urge the agency to reconsider the severity of the impact of the possible new standards.
"I think everyone here wants clean air—that's not the issue," Precinct 1 Commissioner Lisa Birkman said. "I think what we're trying to say is we want [regulations] to be reasonable."
In Central Texas regional air-quality planning and research is done by the Capital Area Council of Governments, or CAPCOG.
Andrew Hoekzema, an air-quality program manager with CAPCOG, said one of the main things the group monitors is ground-level ozone, which is similar to smog.
"We're talking about basically a pollutant that forms in the atmosphere," Hoekzema said. "It's not directly emitted, but you have exhaust from cars and power plants and things like that interact with things like gasoline fumes and solvent fumes—that can form ground-level ozone."
The EPA is required to review the contamination standards for all major pollutants every five years as part of the Federal Clean Air Act, and in November it proposed to toughen the national ground-level ozone standard.
"The proposal was to lower the standard from a level of 75 parts per billion [total gas in the air] to somewhere in the range from 65 to 70 parts per billion," Hoekzema said. "The proposal as the EPA described it was intended to increase protections for public health and vegetation."
Hoekzema said as of 2014, Williamson County has an air quality of 69 parts per billion, which means it could fall short of the new standard.
