EPA and Bush plan clash

EPA proposal to reduce smog could clash with Bush plan to cut gas use


WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal scientists want to tighten smog standards, a step that would allow tens of millions of Americans to breathe easier. The plan could run head-on into President Bush’s hopes of weaning Americans from gasoline by using more smog-producing ethanol.
Environmental Protection Agency scientists will say today that tougher standards “would provide greater health protection for sensitive groups, including asthmatic children and other people with lung disease, healthy children and older adults — especially those active outdoors, and outdoor workers.â€
Nearly 160 million people now breathe illegal levels of ozone pollution — smog — mostly in and near major cities in California and the East.
“The overall body of evidence on ozone health effects clearly calls into question the adequacy of the current standard,†EPA scientists say in their final recommendation to Administrator Stephen Johnson. Details were obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
What the scientists will recommend has stirred controversy within the EPA, said a senior government offi cial, speaking anonymously because he wasn’t authorized to speak about the subject.
EPA staff members have felt they were under pressure from administration offi cials, including people at the White House, not to give a specifi c recommendation for tightening the standard, the offi cial said.
Bush, in his State of the Union speech last week, urged Americans to reduce gasoline consumption by 20 percent over 10 years by substituting alternative fuels, mainly ethanol. The ethanol would be in gasoline blends of 10 percent to 85 percent.
Smog is produced mainly when tailpipe and smokestack pollutants react with summer heat. Other major sources of the pollution are gas vapors and chemical solvents.
Stricter standards could make it even more diffi cult for states and counties to comply with the Clean Air Act. Billions of dollars might have to be spent on cleaner-burning factories, power plants and cars and more mass transportation.
Johnson has until June 20 to decide what to do with the recommendation, agency spokeswoman Jennifer Wood said Tuesday.
Ethanol helps cut carbon monoxide in winter but can raise smog levels in summer, air pollution experts say.
EPA documents show that more ethanol use could raise smog levels about 1 percent, mainly in parts of the Midwest that don’t use cleaner-burning reformulated gasoline.
Bill Wehrum, head of the EPA’s air and radiation offi ce, acknowledged that ethanol poses “a possibility of a very small increase†in smog-causing pollutants but said cleaner-burning motor vehicles and 85 percent ethanol blends would minimize it. He said the EPA doesn’t view tougher smog limits as being in confl ict with Bush’s ethanol goals.
If refiners spend enough to offset the volatility in ethanol that leads to smog, there’s no problem, said ethanol lobbyist Bob Dinneen of the Renewable Fuels Association.
“A lot of concerns that have been out there are unfounded,†he said. “It’s not an air quality issue, it’s an economic issue for refi ners.â€