SOLAR TODAY - November/December 2010

| clean air policy advances

Ozone standard meets Opposition

Senators lobby EPA to abandon lower target for air pollutant.

by rOBEr T UKEILEy

However, the EPA did not keep its promise. The New York Times reported that the American Petroleum Institute lobbied the EPA to delay finalizing the new ozone NAAQS. In addition, Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio) urged the EPA to give up its reconsideration of the Bush-era ozone rule. Joined by Sens. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and David Vitter (R-La.), the politicians raised concerns about the economic impacts if the more protective standard was finalized.

robert ukeiley (rukeiley @ igc.org) is a lawyer who represents environmental nonprofits in clean air act litigation affecting energy issues.

Under the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets levels of acceptable air pollution, known as National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). States then come up with emission restrictions and other programs to keep air pollution below the NAAQS. The act requires the EPA to update the NAAQS every five years, because Congress understood that our scientific knowledge of air pollution impacts advances over time.

Ground-level ozone is the principal component of smog. Ozone causes asthma and other health problems, as well as damage to crops and forests. In 2008, the EPA under the Bush administration revised the NAAQS for ozone down to 75 parts per billion. The problem is that the EPA’s own scientists were recommending that the standard needed to be even lower to protect public health, agriculture and native ecosystems. Thus, the EPA under the Obama administration promised to review the decision. In January, the EPA proposed to lower the ozone NAAQS to between 70 and 60 parts per billion. While a five to 10 parts per billion reduction may not seem like much, it would actually require hundreds of fossil fuel-fired power plants to install pollution-control devices, curtail their operating hours or even shut down. This would be another step toward leveling the playing field for efficiency and renewable energy versus fossil fuel-fired generation. Thus, it was good news that the EPA promised it would finalize the new standard by August.

Let the senators know that delaying the
new ozone NAAQS is bad for business.

The politicians are right that there are economic impacts. However, the politicians fail to point out that the economic impacts are the billions of dollars and the hundreds of jobs being lost in energy-efficiency and renewable energy projects. These projects, needed for reductions in pollution, are not going to happen until the EPA finalizes the standard. People in the energy-efficiency and renewable energy fields in Indiana, Ohio, Missouri and Louisiana need to be heard on this. They need to contact the senators listed above and make sure their colleagues, friends and family do the same. Let the senators know that delaying the new ozone NAAQS is bad for business.

the city of Arvada, Colo., in northwest metro Denver, has installed what it claims to be the state’s largest commercial solar thermal installation. The rooftop of the Apex Center, a city recreational building that includes two NHL-sized ice rinks, four pools and three gymnasiums, is now equipped with 296 Lumos ( lumossolar.com) E30 evacuated-tube collectors. At peak performance, the system will produce 12. 43 million British thermal units per day, helping with both space and water heating. On an annual basis, it is expected to offset 30 to 40 percent of the building’s natural gas consumption.

Justin Howe, Apex Center building engineer, secured certification and oversaw the installation process. Leading a labor force consisting of the Arvada Fire Department, several church groups and the Apex Park and Recreation District staff, Howe estimates he saved the city $1 million by keeping the installation in-house. A grant from the Colorado Carbon Fund, a program of the Governor’s Energy Office, helped defray an additional $30,000 in expense. — MIkE kOSHMRl