Published: August 20, 2008 12:02 pm            

Floyd, Clark counties fail to meet EPA’s new soot standard

INDIANAPOLIS — Federal officials intend to declare 19 Indiana counties — 14 more than the state had suggested — in violation of a new standard for tiny soot particles that can cause respiratory distress in children and the elderly.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that 19 Indiana counties are among 215 counties in 25 states it plans to list as violating the new standard for pollution particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers — one-30th the diameter of a human hair.

Those tiny particles lodge in people's lungs and blood vessels and are a major contributor to respiratory problems, especially in children, the elderly and people with existing illnesses.

The 19 Indiana counties listed by the EPA are: Clark, Dearborn, Dubois, Floyd, Gibson, Hamilton, Hendricks, Jefferson, Johnson, Knox, Lake, Marion, Morgan, Pike, Porter, Spencer, Tippecanoe, Vanderburgh and Warrick.

Counties that don’t meet national outdoor air quality standards are called nonattainment areas. The EPA said it intends to settle on its final soot nonattainment list by Dec. 18.

Counties included on that list would face pressure to cut levels of microscopic soot produced by power plants, diesel-burning trucks, cars and factories.

IDEM spokesman Rob Elstro said Tuesday that the agency hopes the EPA removes some of the Indiana counties from its final list.

“IDEM is cautiously optimistic that the effective final ... designations in the spring of 2009 will not include as many counties as today’s preliminary designations. Monitoring data shows that Indiana's air quality continues to improve,” Elstro said in a statement.

The EPA said in 1997 that cutting fine-particle pollution would save 15,000 people a year from premature deaths due to heart and lung diseases aggravated by soot-filled air.

Tim Maloney, senior policy director for the Hoosier Environmental Council, said the 19 counties are mainly the same counties that were on the EPA’s fine particle nonattainment list under its previous standard.

The new standard is important because it takes into account growing concerns about short-term exposure to fine particles that can lodge deep in the lungs, said Janet McCabe, executive director of Improving Kids' Environment, an Indianapolis nonprofit working to reduce environmental threats to children's health.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.