EPA cracks down on Midwest pollution

By Paul Sullivan Copyright 1998 Boston Herald September 25, 1998

Are your eyes still smarting from all that smog over Boston this summer?

Well, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency directed 22 states in the eastern third of the country yesterday to cut smog-causing chemicals, primarily from power plants, and stem the interstate flow of air pollution from the Midwest to the Northeast.

The tougher pollution controls will have the greatest impact on Midwest and Ohio Valley utilities that will face demands to dramatically cut releases of nitrogen oxide from scores of coal-burning power plants from Illinois to West Virginia.

John Rodman of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection said, "What it means is utilities in Midwest states, still using much dirtier (coal-burning) power plants, such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, are right in the crosshairs of the EPA.

"These new regulations will create an equal playing field for the eastern states," which have already coverted to other power sources, as has the Bay State.

"On a bad summer's day, up to half the pollution that comes in here is blown in at a high altitude from the Midwest, it cooks in the sun and becomes smog," Rodman said.

"This is something Gov. (Paul) Cellucci and other eastern state governors were pushing for very hard," Rodman added. "There will be no additional pollution controls here in Massachusetts.

"What the EPA has done is put in place a program that will require all of the states to put in a plan a year from now to clean up their air by 2003," Rodman said.

EPA Administrator Carol Browner said the tougher controls are expected to cut nitrogen oxide emissions in the 22 states by 1.1 million tons, or 28 percent, annually by 2007.

Browner called it "the centerpiece" of EPA's efforts to curtail urban smog and bring regions into compliance with federal air-quality health standards imposed last year.

"Thousands of cases of smog-related illnesses, like bronchitis and exacerbated cases of childhood asthma, will be prevented each year," said Browner.

Because of the pollution that flows in air currents from the Midwest to the Northeast, Northeastern officials say it's impossible for their states to meet federal air quality requirements.

Midwest officials have argued that the impact on Northeastern states has been exaggerated, and that the emission cuts being sought by the EPA will force Midwest and Ohio Valley utilities to commit to expensive pollution controls with modest environmental gains.

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