Tougher ozone standards could put Victoria in violation
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Timeline
A tougher ozone standard will be officially proposed in December.
That proposal will be reviewed and in August 2010 a final cap will be adopted.
In 2011, communities will be notified if they are in violation.
Plans of ...
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Timeline
A tougher ozone standard will be officially proposed in December.
That proposal will be reviewed and in August 2010 a final cap will be adopted.
In 2011, communities will be notified if they are in violation.
Plans of action to help reduce ozone levels will be due in December 2013.
Victoria County could be in violation of ozone standards if tougher rules being considered by the federal government are adopted.
That likely would lead to restrictions to curtail ozone generation, but no one is sure yet what those restrictions would be.
Marie Lester, Victoria's environmental programs coordinator, said the city's average ozone so far this year is 66 parts per billion. The Environmental Protection Agency is considering lowering the cap to between 60 and 70 parts per billion.
"That puts us right in middle," she said.
It could also put 27 of the 28 Texas counties that monitor ozone in violation of the standard, she said. The exception would be Webb County.
"It's going to be difficult for many of these communities to reach attainment because the air quality problems we have are not always locally generated," Lester said.
Up to 87 percent of Victoria's ozone is transported in by air currents from other parts of Texas and the eastern United States.
Ray Miller with the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which coordinates the county's transportation plans, agreed Victoria has little control over ozone levels.
"You have mesquite trees and pecan trees that put off chemicals that can create ozone," he said. "You may have a spike in the spring just because of all the plants."
Officials need to consider such factors when they set tougher ozone standards, he said. On the flip side, ozone is a health problem for some and it needs to be regulated, he said.
A proposed state plan for dealing with cities that don't meet the ozone standard deals mainly with the oil-and-gas industry. Restrictions range from such vague terms as controls for tank fittings on floating roofs to controlling crude and condensate storage tanks.
While Victoria County has an oil-and-gas industry, Lester said University of Texas research shows it's not the main source of ozone.
"Because it's so far in the future, they put some more generic things in there," Lester said. "Whatever they decide to do, we'll tailor some of our campaign to help meet some of the needs of the plan."
But the focus will be on vehicles, because they produce more than half of the ozone generated locally, she said.
Miller said the good news is that vehicle fleets have a relatively high turnover rate and the older vehicles are being replaced with those that produce less pollution.
