Air Quality

In 2006, the EPA issued the TRI Burden Reduction Rule, which took effect in the reporting of calendar year 2006 data.  Prior to calendar year 2006, facilities that released or managed under 500 pounds of a not-persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic chemical, (PBT) could use a shorter form (Form-A) to report information about TRI-chemical usage.  Form-A contains information about facility location, chemical use, and the parent company.  Facilities releasing more than 500 pounds of non-PBT TRI-chemicals had to report more detailed information in Form-R.  Form-R contains information about total chemical releases and disposal, while Form-A does not.  The Rule raises the Form-A reporting threshold to 2,000 pounds on non-PBT chemical release or management.  Thus, it is possible that a slight decrease in TRI chemical releases could be the result of the rule change and not a real reduction.[4][5]

 

In addition to the traditional visibility and noxiousness problems caused by smog, haze, and other visible air pollutants, the emission of toxics into the air now has been shown to be a major contributor to a host of other diseases and environmental health problems.  For example, mercury is a common air pollutant.  It is released during the combustion of a variety of substances, including some fossil fuels.  It is particularly good at passing through most modern air pollution control equipment,.  Therefore, some power plant and some factory emissions may contain significant amount of mercury.  Mercury that is released into the air in this manner eventually settles back to the ground and to waterbodies.  This process is called deposition.  Mercury is absorbed easily by fish and shellfish, where it concentrates in their fatty tissues.  Because fish and seafood are significant parts of many peoples’ diets, especially in a state like South Carolina, the amount of mercury that enters the state’s waters is of particular concern.

Pursuant to the federal Clean Air Act,[6] the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must impose maximum concentration standards referred to as National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for six “criteria pollutants:”[7] ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter (both 10 microns and 2.5 microns in diameter), and lead.  A criteria pollutant that is of particular interest to South Carolina is ozone, (as regulated under EPA’s new 8-hour standard).  If an area does not meet, or if it contributes “to ambient air quality in a nearby area that does not meet,” the national air quality standard for the pollutant at issue, EPA may designate that area as being in “nonattainment” for that criteria pollutant. [8]

 

The areas that have been designated as nonattainment for ozone are the Charlotte/Gastonia/Rock Hill area (part of York County), the Columbia area (parts of both Richland and Lexington County), and the Greenville/Spartanburg area (encompassing Anderson, Greenville, and Spartanburg County).  While technically in nonattainment, the Columbia and Greenville/Spartanburg areas have delayed the formal nonattainment designation by participating in the EPA’s Early Action Compact program. This program allows areas to attempt to bring themselves back into attainment with the Clean Air Act by December 2007 before being listed as a formal nonattainment area and becoming subject to the requirements that such a designation would entail.  For the purposes of our analysis, we have included the Early Action Compact areas, as they technically violate the Clean Air Act. [9]   

 

At ground level, high ozone concentrations can pose risks to human health and the environment because “elevated levels  . . . may cause lung and respiratory disorders, [including]  . . .  shortness of breath, coughing, chest tightness, or irritation of [the] nose and throat [from short-term exposure]. Individuals exercising outdoors, children, the elderly, and people with pre-existing respiratory illnesses are particularly susceptible. Chemists say the materials damaged by ozone include rubber, nylon, plastics, dyes, and paints.” In the stratosphere (9 to 18 miles above the ground), however, ozone protects the Earth and its inhabitants from cosmic rays and other sources of extraterrestrial radiation.  Without this protection life as we know it on Earth would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to maintain.  This upper-level ozone layer is at risk from certain man-made chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s), which formerly were used in air conditioning and refrigeration equipment and as propellants in aerosols.

 

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