Atlanta Journal-Constitution
26 May 2003

'Severe' rating for air quality could be costly

By Stacy Shelton

Sometime this year, metro Atlanta will join New York, Baltimore, Houston and a handful of other American cities whose dirty air is labeled a "severe" problem by federal regulators.

Only car-choked Los Angeles has a poorer rating. Its air pollution is "extreme" -- the worst on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's scale.

Metro Atlanta's jump from "serious" to "severe" could mean Georgia Power starts paying millions of dollars in annual fines within a couple of years. Smaller polluters, such as hospitals using industrial-sized heating and cooling units, will have a lot more paperwork.

Gas stations in a 13-county metro area might be required to sell a special fuel that state and federal officials claim could make the air worse. The fuel was designed for California's smog problem, which is different from Atlanta's.

Nothing, though, worries business leaders as much as what the new classification could do to Atlanta's image.

The Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce grouped it with traffic and poor-performing schools as "another 'hit' on Atlanta's brand." Ron Methier, chief of the state's air protection branch, said, "It's a stigma."

John Ahmann, the chamber's senior vice president, called it "a hiccup that our competitors will try to exploit." Bad air has caused other cities, such as Houston, to lose out when recruiting companies.

What galls Methier, who has clamped down on polluters, and Ahmann, whose chamber members have borne the brunt of air quality restrictions, is that metro Atlanta's air hasn't gotten any worse since 1990, even though more than 1 million people -- and their cars -- have moved in. If the rating were based only on pollution levels recorded in the past three years, Atlanta's air would qualify as "moderate," a step better than "serious." Cooler summers have helped greatly.

They say it's a remarkable accomplishment that should be rewarded, or at least not punished. Others, including environmental attorney David Farren, who is behind a lawsuit forcing Atlanta's bump-up to "severe," say the region and Georgia haven't done nearly enough to clean dirty air.

Noxious stew

It wasn't until the 1990s that scientists figured out ingredients of the smog that sits over metro Atlanta's summer skyline. Basically, a stew of emissions from vehicles, power plants, industries and trees combines with sunlight to create the ground-level ozone, or smog.

Even before they had the smog recipe down, though, state and federal regulators began requiring cleaner cars. State-mandated emissions tests last year required more than 200,000 cars and light trucks to make repairs or get off the road.

This month, Georgia Power turned on $800 million in pollution-control equipment at seven plants ringing metro Atlanta, including the country's largest coal-fired plant. Company and state officials expect the plants' nitrogen oxide emissions to go down 85 percent this summer.

And a fuel specifically designed to reduce pollutants in Georgia's air will be sold by gas stations in 45 counties later this year.

Federally mandated fuel required for metro areas with "severe" air pollution probably would not reduce smog as much as the state-required gasoline, said Kay Prince, chief of EPA's air protection branch for the Southeast.

She said a "severe" rating won't do much to clean up metro Atlanta's air.

"Because of the things Georgia has done in their state plan, there's not as much additional emission reduction," Prince said.

But countering Georgia's air-cleaning measures is metro Atlanta's explosive growth.

Population has reached 3.9 million in the 13-county area targeted for dirty air. Edge counties such as Forsyth and Henry are among the fastest-growing in the nation. People are driving farther, longer and alone. Less than 4 percent of commuters take public transit, and many of them ride buses and trains only because they don't own cars.

Smokestack pollution used to cause about half of metro Atlanta's air pollution; today it's less than a quarter of the problem. Cars, diesel trucks, construction equipment and lawn mowers cause most of the air pollution now.

In some ways, metro Atlanta is fortunate. It could have been slapped with the "severe" rating much sooner, along with about a dozen other metro areas.

Under changes made in 1990 to the federal Clean Air Act, the region could have been bumped up from "serious" to "severe" when it failed to meet the 1999 deadline for cleaning up its air. But the EPA chose not to enforce the law; the agency said metro areas could not be held responsible for air pollution drifting over from other states.

Metro Atlanta and other "serious" areas got another six years to clean up their air.

It was a call to action for environmentalists, who immediately took the EPA to court. They really made headway last year when federal appellate courts in St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and Beaumont, Texas, ruled the EPA did not have authority to extend deadlines set by federal law.

By the time the EPA went before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta in March, the agency had backed down. Its lead attorney in the Atlanta case acknowledged the Clean Air Act doesn't allow extensions.

Given the EPA's capitulation, and the earlier rulings, a three-judge panel from the 11th Circuit is expected to hand metro Atlanta a "severe" rating any day. Tighter federal regulations would be imposed right away, but the region would get more time to clean up its air before fines kick in. A 2005 deadline is likely.

To complicate matters even more, the EPA might not enforce the 2005 deadline. It could wait for stricter measures of ground-level ozone and airborne particles, such as soot. The stricter measures, expected to go into effect next year, would more accurately gauge dirty air that can lead to health problems.

Under the new measures, metro Atlanta would have until at least 2009 to meet the Clean Air standards.

'About public health'

Farren, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, which has sued the EPA on behalf of the Sierra Club and other groups, disagrees with state and federal environmental regulators who downplay the effect of a "severe" rating. He said the victors are residents of metro Atlanta who should get cleaner air faster.

"What we're getting is a lot of whining and complaining over the public image of Atlanta, that this is a black eye," he said. "And in the process, unfortunately, we're losing sight of the fact that this is about public health. ... It's about coming up with a plan that will finally, after 30 years, bring clean air to Atlanta."

Because of its bad air, the region must spend more money on traffic-reducing projects or risk losing federal road-building money, as happened in the late 1990s.

Last year, there were seven days when metro Atlanta's air was considered unhealthy for most people, particularly during evening rush hour, when smog levels peak. Hospitals report more cases of asthma attacks during these episodes, and even people without lung or heart problems complain of difficulty breathing.

Since 1996, the region has had anywhere from three days like that (in 2001) to 22 days (in 1998).

Farren argues that sprawl will outweigh technological advances from cleaner fuels and cleaner engines. Without major changes in how people get around, through more mass transit, carpooling and other options, growth is "going to offset the air quality improvements," he said.

Some businesses hurt

Businesses in the 13-county metro Atlanta region would be the biggest losers under a "severe" rating.

The state has compiled a list of more than 250 companies that would face tighter restrictions, among them asphalt plants, printing companies, hospitals, paint manufacturers and cabinetmakers. For most, fees to the state would more than double to $2,500 a year, although Georgia officials say these companies cause less than 1 percent of metro Atlanta's air quality problems.

The companies also would spend about $10,000 a year on emissions monitoring and related paperwork, said Russell Bailey, Atlanta project manager for Trinity Consultants, a Dallas firm that helps businesses understand the Clean Air Act.

If a manufacturing or printing plant wanted to set up shop in the 13-county area, it would cost about $250,000 in air-quality-related expenses, he said. They have to make room for their emissions by paying to reduce other companies' emissions; that would get slightly more expensive when metro Atlanta is labeled "severe."

Most polluting companies can't think about moving here anyway. Metro Atlanta's bad air has kept the region from recruiting heavy industry since 1979, according to state officials. "It certainly does not encourage new small businesses in the area. ... It has the effect of pushing development farther out" beyond the 13-county region, Bailey said.

For Georgia Power, which emits more tons of pollution into the air than any other metro area company, the costs could be a lot more.

The power company, which has two plants in the 13-county region, could pay fines of millions of dollars a year if metro Atlanta fails to meet the Clean Air Act deadline. Regionwide, state officials estimate the annual fines collected could run as high as $52 million -- all poured into the state's general fund.

Steve Ewald, who works on Georgia Power's regulatory issues, said: "It's not going to help air quality. It's not the emissions from these industries and Georgia Power that's the problem."

The problem, business leaders, state officials and environmentalists agree, is cars.

Some companies will drop plans to expand or relocate here, rather than pay the fines, Ewald said. "That affects the whole region, the general public and the whole economy."

Houston has been living with a "severe" rating since 1990. Jim Kollaer, president and chief executive of the Greater Houston Partnership, which represents 2,000 businesses, said a Toyota plant that ended up in San Antonio took Houston off its list because of the air problems.

City leaders put out the message that "clean air is everybody's business." Now, Kollaer said, the "strike" against Houston is being turned into an asset, with business leading the way.

"When we comply with these requirements, we'll have the cleanest air of any urban area in the Southwest," he said. "It's a fact."