The most expensive regulation

Tightening Ozone rule

The national air standards for ozone will be changing. EPA advisory committee is looking at strengthening standards to within the range of 60 ppb to 70 ppb.

There are significant scientific evidences that show the ozone standard should be less than 60 ppb for protecting of vulnerable public health, current standard is 75 ppm.  EPA added that by setting the ozone standard to 60 ppb would prevent approximately 12,000 premature death and 21,000 hospital visits. “The standard needs to be set where the science drives it.”

While environmental and science groups try to urge the EPA to propose a new ozone standard, industry groups have difficulty keeping up with the current standard of 75 ppb. Power plants, industrial facilities and more vehicles are the main sources emitting ozone precursors, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.

Carlton Carroll, a spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute noted that “Tightening the standards wouldn’t improve air quality faster but would come with enormous costs to jobs and the economy,”

If the ozone standard is set at 60 ppb this expensive regulation may cause closure of one-third of the coal fired power plants and could cost up to $270 billion per year in the USA.
The American Petroleum Institute has predicted that 94% of the American people would live in a non-attainment zone if the ozone standard were lowered to 60 ppb.

 Reff:

Patrick Ambrosio, 2014, Bloomberg BNA “Ozone Standard of 60-70 Parts Per Billion Appropriate to Protect Health, EPA Staff Says” retrieved from https://www.environmental-expert.com//news/ozone-standard-of-60-70-parts-per-billion-appropriate-to-protect-health-epa-staff-says-443209?utm_source=News_Air_04092014&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_content=feattextlink

Categorised in: EPA