Georgia's chief environmental regulator asked the federal government Thursday to add Augusta to a growing list of cities with enough air pollution to flunk U.S. Clean Air Act standards.
"EPD evaluated the recommended non-attainment areas using nine factors, including air quality data, population density, traffic and commuting patterns, and weather," said Environmental Protection Division director Carol Couch.
The recommendation could make it harder for industries to get environmental permits and place new conditions on federal highway funds.
In a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Dr. Couch proposed that all or part of 27 counties -- including all of metro Atlanta and the cities of Augusta, Athens, Macon and Columbus -- be designated as non-attainment areas for ozone.
"The results of our analysis show that we need to address air quality problems in these areas," Dr. Couch said.
Ozone, a major component of smog, is created when exhaust from vehicles, power plants, industry and other sources reacts in the presence of sunlight and high temperatures.
Last year, the EPA adopted a more stringent health standard for ozone.
Though Augusta and several other areas on the proposed non-attainment list passed the old standards, they flunked the new ones.
Rebecca Watts Hull, the program manager for Mothers & Others for Clean Air at the Georgia Conservancy, applauded Dr. Couch's recommendation, saying it could yield much needed improvements in air quality.
"While leaders in these metro areas see non-attainment as bad news, the fact that it represents a better understanding of the health effects of air pollution is good news," Hull said, citing recent studies that have documented the dangers of smog and helped justify the stricter air standards.
"We understand the dangers now much better than we did in the 1970s," Hull said. "The hope is that non-attainment, rather than causing leadership to throw up their hands, will spur them to act more quickly or aggressively to expand mass transit and speed up controls on coal-fired power plants."
The EPA will consider the Georgia recommendations and could make a formal designation of non-attainment areas as early as March 12, 2010.
The state would then have three years to submit plans to the EPA for meeting the ozone health standard.
If Augusta receives a formal non-attainment status, it would trigger a series of restrictions on environmental permits for industry, road projects and federally funded transportation programs.
Reach Rob Pavey at 868-1222, ext. 119, or rob.pavey@augustachronicle.com.
CLOUD OVER GEORGIA
Areas recommended for ozone non-attainment designation:
ATLANTA : Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Rockdale, Spalding and Walton counties, plus a section of Heard County
ATHENS : Clarke County
AUGUSTA : Richmond County
COLUMBUS : Muscogee County
MACON : Bibb County and a section of Monroe County
MURRAY COUNTY : A section of Murray County
Source: Carol Couch, Georgia EPD
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010. All Rights Reserved.
Can we secede from Georgia if Georgia won't secede from America?
Is it just a coincidence that every time a leftist president gets into office, Augusta becomes a major polluter?
Augusta has always been a major polluter. Have you been outside in the last 30 years and smelled Augusta? It stinks!
This really should not be a big surprise to anyone. It was coming way before the current president was even thought of. Also, notice in the first line of the article that this is a STATE action initiating this.
When you walk outside and your eyes burn and you have to hold your nose because the air smells like farts.. you know there is a pollution problem.
When a state allows cars on the road that will set off a smoke detector in any home because of the smoke, "leftist" president or one "Little george" can not improve the air quality.
Well I guess the auto repair lobby is starting early to buy a few politicians. I predict that the only solution is state mandated auto inspections, performed and certified by auto shop only, will be the only solution. Of course on a bright side, that would mean virtually all the carburated autos and their boom boxes would have to go.
Peopel emit CO2 too. We should ban them from Augusta...GA ??
When I moved here from Atlanta 25 years ago, I thought I was moving to the country--clean air and sunshine. Imagine my surprise when I got up the first morning here and the air smelled like cat food. It is high time we fixed the problem. I was always told that it was "the smell of money" when I would ask what is that horrible odor? Probably smelling pay-off money!!
Augusta has for decades smelled like farts. The bleaching process to whiten wood pulp for paper production is what I believe causes the odor. I knew a man once who worked at International Paper(Continental Can then). He reaked of the stentch when he would come home from work. I once had the duty of going out to Augusta Newsprint to photograph some damage to one of their paper making "machines" for insurance purposes, when a huge granite roller disintegrated and trashed the machine. The smell was acrid and burned my nose and after long enough, my throat. I was told it was the odor from bleaching the pulp to whiten it before forming it into paper. The smell permeated my clothes after only an hour there. This is no doubt where most of this odor comes from. The paper industry in south Augusta. The various chemical plants "burn" off their emissions(when their stack flares are functioning properly). These burnt emissions add to the smell. And to the poster who said Augusta smells like farts......when the atmospheric conditions are right, Thomson smells like farts from the pollution of Augusta's Industrial Sprawl. I guess that's another reason why we're called a "sister" city to Augusta.
Yeah.. "The smell of money" has really been good to South Augusta. No one with any choice wants to live on that side of town because of the stinky air.
Isn't it AMAZING how little This or other Environmental issues cause A stir in the Augusta Area?