Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson modestly lowered limits on ozone pollution Wednesday, angering both industry groups who lobbied against changes and medical, scientific and environmental groups who pushed for tougher limits.
EPA officials estimated that the tighter limits would leave 345 counties in violation of federal health requirements for smog, although they said the final count would not be known until 2010. About 85 counties and many major cities already fail to meet the current standard.
Counties in the Southeast, the Midwest and a few parts of California, including inland portions of the San Francisco Bay Area, could find their air declared dirty under the new regulations. They probably will have to reduce emissions from power plants, refineries, motor vehicles and consumer products, such as paint and hair spray. The regulations allow governments two decades to comply.
President Bush intervened at the 11th hour and turned down a second proposal by the EPA staff that would have established tougher seasonal limits on ozone based on its harm to forests, crops and other plants, according to documents obtained by The Times. Federal scientists had recommended those growing-season limits as a way to keep vegetation healthy and capable of trapping carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas linked to global warming.
Johnson also proposed revamping the landmark Clean Air Act to allow EPA administrators to consider industry and consumer costs when revising pollution standards, and to eliminate a requirement to review limits on leading air pollutants every five years, among other changes.
"The bottom line is it's time to modernize the Clean Air Act," Johnson said. "It's been nearly two decades since [it] was last in the shop. Now is the time to begin the public debate."
Any changes to the law would require approval from the Democratic-controlled Congress, where he would face an uphill battle against legislators already unhappy with him over earlier decisions.
Johnson said the new ozone limits were "the most stringent" to be signed by an EPA administrator and would adequately protect public health. He lowered the legally allowable limits of exposure from about 84 parts per billion to about 75 ppb over an average eight-hour period.
Ozone is not directly emitted but formed when sunlight mixes with nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds produced from tailpipes, smokestacks and other sources.
