EPA: More Virginia cities and counties violate Clean Air Act

Apparently dirty air isn’t just for Northern Virginia. Under new EPA standards released today, several Virginia communities around Richmond and Hampton Roads will receive a time-honored label of “non-attainment” with the Clean Air Act. Fourteen cities and counties in Virginia are projected to be in non-attainment: Alexandria City, Arlington, Caroline, Charles City, Chesterfield, Fairfax, Hampton City, Hanover, Henrico, Loudoun, Madison, Prince William, Stafford, Suffolk City.

In a release today, Trip Pollard of the Southern Environmental Law Center elaborated.

“What we’re seeing is that unhealthy air is not just an urban problem anymore,” said Pollard. “Even small and mid-sized cities are going to have to tackle their air problems in order to protect the health of their citizens.”

“The fact that more cities than ever are likely to fail to meet even this standard should serve as a wake up call to all Virginians that dirty air is everyone’s problem,” said Trip Pollard.

This announcement comes at a time the state is considering permitting two new power plants, a coal-burning plant in Wise County and a natural gas plant in Buckingham county. This follows a court ruling earlier last week which would restrict mercury emission from power plants too.

Under the new standard, the metro Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia region is expected to remain in violation of the federal standard, otherwise known as being in “nonattainment.” However, the greater Richmond area and Virginia Beach as well as smaller western cities including Harrisonburg, Martinsville and Culpepper will also likely be added to the list. These areas will face deadlines to reach the new standard or risk federal sanctions including tighter smokestacks controls and the possible loss of federal highway money.

Inaction is Action: EPA drags on emissions waiver

In other words, EPA is blocking states from implementing meaningful standards for automobile emissions simply by refusing to process its mail. In “EPA gets push on emissions controls,” The Baltimore Sun reports that Maryland is held back from implementing the California emissions standards (developed by the California Air Resources Board, or CARB) that it voted to adopt last spring because EPA has not yet given its OK to California; these standards are heavily opposed by automakers. California is the only state that has the right to create these standards due to federal law, subject to EPA approval of a “California Waiver”. Other states are allowed to follow suit once the waiver is passed. EPA has said that it may make a decision by the end of the year- notably, California will have been waiting two years since it first enacted the legislation. EPA claims that it is processing over 60,000 comments and technical reports on the legislation. I read elsewhere that 50,000 of these comments are actually form cards from environmental groups that were filled out in support of the bill. Isn’t that ironic? I want to say that I heard this attributed to Barbara Boxer. Kudos to Maryland legislators:

“It’s very important that states be able to move forward, particularly until we can have an enforceable federal cap in place,” said Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, a Maryland Democrat who is one of the lawmakers backing legislation that would require the agency to issue a ruling by Sept. 30. “Unfortunately, inaction is action.”

“If we can find some ways to mitigate in small ways the things that we do in the aggregate, like burn carbon fuel, if we can limit that even just a little bit, it can have a salutary impact,” said state Sen. Brian E. Frosh, a Montgomery County Democrat who sponsored the legislation in Maryland. “The way that that works the best is to have national standards. And when you can’t have that … having states do it individually is the second best way.”

“If you look over the history of the automobile industry’s position on reductions in emissions, safety improvements, they’re always crying wolf,” Frosh said. “They always claim that the apocalypse is just around the corner. … The only way these guys make changes that are to the benefit of consumers and to the benefit of the environment is when EPA or the Congress tells them they’ve got to do it.”

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