EPA: State Violates

Air Quality Standards

BOSTON – The US Department of Environmental Protection is proposing to add both Fairfield and New Haven counties to a multi-state area that is violating the federal fine particle air-quality standards.

The multi-state area encompasses the New York City metropolitan area including 10 counties in northern New Jersey and 10 counties in downstate New York where air quality monitors indicate that outdoor concentrations violate the annual fine particle standard.

The EPA proposal to add Connecticut counties to the designated area cites “numerous emission sources in these counties (e.g. cars, trucks, and buses) which have the potential to contribute to fine article pollution throughout the metropolitan area.”

Final EPA designations will be made in November, after states have the opportunity to review the EPA’s preliminary determination, and to submit further information if the state disagrees with the EPA recommendation.

Fine particles are less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter; by comparison, a human hair is 70 microns in diameter. Fine particles are unhealthy to breathe and have been associates with serious health effects and premature death. The particles are derived from a variety of sources including factories, power plants, trash incinerators, construction activity and fires.

While fine particles are unhealthy for anyone to breathe, people with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children are especially at risk. Exposure to elevated particulate levels can increase respiratory symptoms in sensitive individuals, can aggravate heart and lung diseases, and can cause premature death of people with cardiopulmonary disease and the elderly. In addition, fine particles are the major cause of reduced visibility (haze) in parts of the United States, including many national parks.

States with nonattainment areas must submit plans by early 2008 that outline how they will reduce pollution levels so they will meet the air quality standards. The deadline for meeting the standards will be 2010 for most areas.

Former Gov John Rowland has said that Connecticut should be considered to be in compliance, but the state has only one monitor that violates the annual fine particle standard. It is located in an industrial section in New Haven, near an on-ramp to I-95. The findings from this one monitor is not representative of the air people breathe in Connecticut, Gov Rowland said, adding that “Haven is meteorologically distinct in terms of influencing air quality in the New York City metropolitan area.”

The recent announcement by the EPA is part of a suite of Clean Air Rules that the Bush Administration is adopting this year aimed at public health threats. They include fine particles, ground-level smog, diesel exhaust, and mercury.