Document text
Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Local Issues Obituaries Weather Archive Revels Etcetera Backpage Hot Topics Most Viewed Forum Photo Galleries Video Readers Polls O-Zone Online Games Movie Preview Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad April 3, 2006 This time of year , people burn brush piles on their property. It is not unusual to see smoke around the Rogue Valley. Orville Hector | Ashland Daily Tidings Scientists seek lower limits By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to tighten air quality standards, but the agency’s scientific advisory panel wants the standards to be even more stringent. Whichever standard the EPA adopts, the Medford-Ashland area may have trouble meeting the standards that control the amount of fine particles in the air, according to Oregon Department of Environmental Quality officials. The fine particles generally come from industrial and vehicle emissions and smoke from wood stoves and open burning, according to EPA and DEQ officials. “It lodges in the lungs and gets passed through the circulatory system,” said John Becker, DEQ’s air quality manager for Southern Oregon. “It can lead to emphysema and other respiratory problems.” Other problems associated with the fine particles include asthma, lung cancer and elevated blood pressure. Additionally, during times when air particulate levels are high, death rates rise, according to Keith Rose, an air monitoring specialist for EPA’s Region 10, which covers Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska. Fine particles not only cause problems because they lodge deep in the lungs, but they often are accompanied by toxic chemicals that are known or suspected carcinogens, said Portland-based DEQ Air Toxics Specialist Sarah Armitage. “Children are always more susceptible to air pollution because their lungs are developing and they breathe more quickly,” she said, noting that elderly people with respiratory diseases also are at high risk. The fine particles at issue measure 2.5 microns in diameter or smaller. By comparison, a strand of human hair averages 70 microns in diameter, according to DEQ officials. The EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Board recommended that the annual average for fine particles be limited to 13 or 14 micrograms per cubic meter. But the EPA is proposing that the annual average remain unchanged at 15 micrograms per cubic meter. The advisory board also recommended that the daily average for fine particles be lowered from 65 micrograms per cubic meter to 30 to 35 micrograms. The EPA is proposing a daily limit of 35 micrograms. The EPA decision not to follow the advisory board’s advice on the annual limit has sparked an outcry from board members about the EPA’s proposed limit. “This is a groundbreaking process,” Becker said. “That’s not something they normally do.” Rose said he doesn’t know why officials at EPA’s headquarters decided to pick the less stringent 15 micrograms standard for the annual particulate limit. But he noted the daily 35 micrograms limit proposal is within the scientific advisory board’s recommended range of 30 to 35 micrograms. “I believe the rationale for 15 micrograms is that it is adequately protective for human health in combination with the daily standard,” Rose said. In addition to the concern expressed by the scientific advisory board, more than 100 scientists and doctors separately sent a letter to the EPA advocating that both the annual and daily limits for particulate matter be lowered even further. The scientists and doctors said the annual limit should be 12 micrograms and the daily limit should be 25 micrograms. Ashland City Councilor David Chapman and Jacksonville resident Condé Cox, who are both members of Rogue Valley Citizens for Clean Air, said it is no accident that the EPA is keeping the annual fine particulate standard at 15 micrograms. “When the report went to the White House Office of Budget and Management, it suddenly got changed to a much higher standard and one that most places in the United States can meet,” Chapman said. He said he plans to write comments to the EPA and show them to fellow city councilors. Cox said the EPA’s proposal contains a “hidden bomb” that would eliminate existing particulate standards for metro areas with a population under 250,000 such as the Medford-Ashland area. New standards would not be enforced until 2013, he said. “We’re looking at seven years with no standards,” he said, noting that controls on industrial emissions could be eliminated if no standards were in place. He also said there will no longer be monitoring of particulate matter. According to the EPA, new fine particulate standards would go into effect in December. But states would have until 2013 to submit plans on how they plan to reduce pollution to meet the standards, and would have until 2015 to meet the standards. Becker said the DEQ will remain committed to monitoring air quality. According to DEQ officials, the EPA also is proposing a new standard to monitor coarse particles in the air that are between 2.5 microns and 10 microns in diameter. The daily coarse particle standard would be 70 micrograms per cubic meter for urban areas only. Rural areas would be excluded from the standards. EPA is not proposing an annual standard for coarse particles because of a lack of scientific evidence showing significant health risks associated with course particles, according to DEQ officials. For more information about the proposal, visit the EPA’s Web site at www.epa.gov/oar/particlepollution/actions.html. Public comments originally were due this month, but the EPA recently announced the comment period has been extended to July 10. Write Docket ID No. OAR-2005-0175 on comments. Comments can be e-mailed to [email protected], faxed to (202) 566-1741 or mailed to Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 6102T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20460. --> Copyright © 2006 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.