AREAS RECOMMENDED FOR OZONE NON-ATTAINMENT DESIGNATIONS

RALEIGH -- North Carolina recommended today that the federal government designate 24 whole counties and parts of 17 others as not meeting the new federal air quality standard for ozone.

The recommendations for ozone non-attainment areas are a key step in the state's overall plan to improve air quality, protect public health and ensure continued economic growth in North Carolina, said Dee Freeman, secretary of N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. (map)

"Air quality is improving in North Carolina, but we need to ensure that we meet the new stricter federal standard for ozone," Freeman said. "We have identified those areas with the most serious ozone problems, and we will focus attention and develop plans for improving air quality in these non-attainment areas."

Secretary Freeman submitted the recommendations to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which had set today as the deadline for states to propose which areas in their boundaries should be designated non-attainment with the federal ozone standard. The EPA is expected to make a final decision on the designations by March 12, 2010.

Non-attainment areas are regions that do not meet federal air quality standards for pollutants such as ozone. The EPA sets non-attainment boundaries based on recommendations from the states, and the designations can have important implications for growth and development.

Ozone, the main component in urban smog, is unhealthy to breathe and can damage trees and crops. In March 2008, the EPA adopted a more stringent standard for ozone-lowering the allowable level from 0.08 to 0.075 parts per million measured over 8 hours. Although most of North Carolina is attaining the old ozone standard, current levels exceed the new standard in 21 of the 30 counties where the state Division of Air Quality operates monitors.

Non-attainment areas will be the focus of air quality plans for controlling ozone. These plans will include specific proposals for curbing ozone, such as measures to reduce emissions from cars, trucks, industries and power plants. The designations also give EPA the authority to review proposed highway projects and long-range transportation plans.

North Carolina's non-attainment recommendations include counties in the Charlotte, Triangle, Triad, Fayetteville, Hickory, Asheville and Rocky Mount metropolitan areas as well as some outlying areas. Whole counties that were recommended for non-attainment include: Alamance, Alexander, Cabarrus, Caswell, Catawba, Cumberland, Davidson, Davie, Durham, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Franklin, Gaston, Granville, Guilford, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Nash, Orange, Person, Rockingham, Rowan, Union and Wake.

Partial county designations were recommended for: Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Chatham, Cherokee, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Iredell, Jackson, Johnston, Madison, McDowell, Randolph, Swain, Transylvania and Yancey. Pitt County was recommended as unclassifiable due to a lack of monitoring data.

The key factor in North Carolina's non-attainment recommendations was air quality monitoring data from across the state. Monitoring by DAQ shows that ozone levels, while declining for many years, exceed the new ozone standard across much of North Carolina during the warmer months. The DAQ evaluated data on air monitoring, motor vehicle use, population density, air quality modeling and other factors in helping to develop the recommendations.

Ozone is formed when nitrogen oxides (NOx) react with hydrocarbons in the air on hot, sunny days with little wind. The main sources of the pollutants that cause ozone are cars and trucks, coal-fired power plants and other industry.

North Carolina has taken substantial steps to control ozone and other key air quality problems in recent years. In 2002, the legislature passed the Clean Smokestacks Act, which requires coal-fired power plants to reduce their NOx and sulfur dioxide emissions by about three-fourths over the following 10 years. The legislature also passed bills that enhanced and expanded the auto emissions testing program from nine to 48 counties.

For more information about other air issues , visit the DAQ web site at www.ncair.org.

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