Leaders call for action on ozone from business community

A concerted effort from the business community is the Treasure Valley’s last hope to avoid far-reaching regulations to counteract unacceptable levels of ozone in the air, state and local officials say.

The Valley unofficially crossed the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s air quality standard for ozone for the three-year period from 2006 to 2008 in July. That makes it all but certain that the agency will designate the Valley for “nonattainment” status as soon as 2010, which would force the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality to create a binding package of rules to reduce ozone to acceptable levels that must be sustained over 20 years.
However, the state has one last chance next year to convince the Environmental Protection Agency to hold off on the designation – if it can find a way to reduce the concentration of ozone in the air by cutting pollution from vehicles and industrial sources and hoping for a cool summer, said Toni Hardesty, director of the state agency.
“People come to us and ask, ‘What’s the silver bullet?’” Hardesty said during a meeting organized by the Boise Valley Economic Partnership last week. “The hard part is there’s not one thing, but if everybody selected one thing they were going to focus on, that could have a significant impact. … There’s this window of opportunity here, although these are important things to do regardless.”
The Valley exceeded the EPA standard after the agency lowered the acceptable level of ozone from 85 parts per billion to 75 parts per billion this spring. The region was edging closer to the old standard anyway, with a three-year average of 78 parts per billion from 2005 to 2007.
The standard applies to the entire local airshed, which encompasses Ada and Canyon counties; portions of Owyhee, Elmore, Gem and Payette counties; and portions of eastern Oregon.
Ozone is an odorless, colorless gas that forms when sunlight bakes a mixture of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.  It’s helpful in the upper atmosphere, where it shields the earth from harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun, but hazardous near ground level since it is harmful to breathe.
Hardesty noted that automobile emissions account for 50 percent of the nitrogen oxide that produces the ozone cocktail, whereas construction, for example, contributes an estimated 10 percent.
“We can’t talk about ozone and ozone control measures without talking about vehicles,” she said.
DEQ would be forced to implement a broad array of rules to reduce both nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds. Otherwise, the valley could lose federal highway dollars, though Hardesty said that could only happen if the region refused outright to cooperate with the EPA.
Hardesty said her agency has already started drafting rules to require gas stations to retrofit their underground storage tanks to capture vapors released when drivers fill up. That could eliminate close to 3 percent of the volatile organic compounds released every year.
Other steps could include requiring new major industrial operations to offset expected pollution by reducing it from other sources in the valley; adopting restrictions on currently unregulated businesses like auto body shops and dry cleaners; compelling expanding businesses to use technology that produces the lowest possible emissions, regardless of cost; and forcing the largest employers to adopt comprehensive transportation plans to reduce their employees’ vehicle use.
“Once you head down the path of nonattainment, it means a lot,” Hardesty said. “All of those things we develop in the plan have to continue for another 20 years. You have to continue to prove that (they’re having an impact). It’s not like once you hit attainment, you move back.”
Pete O’Neill, president of the Treasure Valley Air Quality Council, said a community-wide effort could make an enormous difference, especially if business leaders understand what’s at stake.
“The whole reason EPA sets standards is because bad air is bad for you, and that, quite frankly, didn’t gain any traction in the business community or in the Legislature until the designation of nonattainment,” he said. “We’ve all got to be part of the solution.”
The council, created by the state Legislature in 2005, presented six recommendations to lawmakers in 2007, some of which have come closer to reality, such as a vehicle emissions testing program in Canyon County.
O’Neill suggested a program to reward and recognize businesses and individuals who take action on air quality, though he said the most important step could be an aggressive public awareness campaign.
“The benefit of an outreach and education program that changes our behavior, so we drive less, will have far more impact than any kind of regulatory thing,” he said.
Hardesty said the DEQ began running public service announcements this summer, though the City of Boise had to step in to subsidize the campaign after the state agency’s funding ran out.
The agency has also created templates for businesses to use in altering workplace policies, including alternative work schedules, telecommuting, vehicle idling and alternative transportation. (They are available at http://deq.idaho.gov/air/assist_business/road_to_cleaner_air.cfm)
DEQ also recommends that businesses encourage employees to carpool, vanpool or take the bus; allow for telecommuting and flexible workplace hours; develop anti-idling policies for vehicle fleets; use low or zero VOC products; and switch landscaping to minimize lawn mowing.