EPA to downgrade Dallas air quality to serious

Houston Chronicle ^ | Jan. 18, 2011 | RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI

[TLI]

HOUSTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to downgrade Dallas' air quality from "moderate" to "serious" after the city failed to meet a 1997 pollution limit and new regulations the agency is considering could put the city even further behind.

The announcement the EPA planned to make Wednesday will force the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to submit a plan detailing how Dallas will meet federal guidelines by 2013. But, the EPA plans to unveil a more stringent ozone cap by July 31, making it even harder for Dallas to get in line.

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[TLI]

I live and work in the heart of Dallas and the air is fine and the sky is clear. But the feds will make us all go broke and starve to “save” us from the boogieman.

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[SIDENET]

I'd downgrade it to

SERIES.

[bray]

Amazing, you would think DC is at war with TX?

Pray for America

[re_nortex]

I live and work in the heart of Dallas and the air is fine and the sky is clear.

I agree completely. The air quality is great as far as I'm concerned. This is a manufactured "issue", a make-work project for the EPA (just one of the numerous government agencies that should be decomissioned).

[edcoil]

State of Texas to Washington DC EPA

Don’t mess with Texas.

If we wanted your opinion, we’d tell it to ya.

[Leo Farnsworth]

You must admit, though, the problem is HUGH!

[nick42]

This is a HUGH deal! :-)

I guess it’s time to go out and by that respirator now.

[Squantos]

Seen this coming....EPA has got to be corralled.

[hockeyfan]

Ironic that this report comes out of Houston...the city with THE WORST air quality in the state!

[Uncle Ike]

VENDETTA: 2: an often prolonged series of retaliatory, vengeful, or hostile acts or exchange of such acts http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vendetta

[EyeGuy]

Dallas should downgrade the EPA to useless.

[Hoodat]

Wow, this is hugh!

[padre35]

Freeper downgrades EPA status to:

Defunct

[taxtruth]

It is huge if you are the Environmental Parasite Agency trying to tell people in Texas what to do.They don’t stand a chance.

[taxtruth]

LOL!

[ViLaLuz]

I moved here from the New Orleans area. The air is much cleaner in the DFW area. Fewer allergies and asthma attacks.

[TLI]

Amazing, you would think DC is at war with TX?

While Dallas' population grew by 24 percent between 2000 and 2009, its ozone levels dropped by 16 percent — from 102 ppb to 86 ppb — showing the state had worked to clean up the air but still falling short of the federal standard. This led the EPA to reclassify the city's air as "serious," Brymer said.

Now, all the models show Dallas will be well under the 84 ppb mark by 2013 — but by then the EPA's new guidelines will demand cities to have an eight-hour ozone level of between 60 ppb to 70 ppb, which Dallas won't be able to achieve within two years, Brymer said.

I can see this one coming. EPA will "save" us by forcing more crap in the gasoline or shut down some power plants.

They will pizz and moan about their "cap" while breaking their own deal with the new "cap" that they thought up for July 31 of THIS year.

If the pubies want to make MASSIVE budget cuts I have a suggestion on where to make a really big one...

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[Defend Liberty]

Not only is any action by the EPA Unconstitutional but also the mere existence of the EPA is Unconstitutional since regulating the environment is not an enumerated power granted to Congress in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution! The EPA must be abolished!

[bereanway]

It sounds like it’s going to be almost impossible for any city to get to that 60 to 70 ppb 8 hr reading. Evidently in many rural areas background readings during the summer months are often above 75 ppb. Dallas is not even in the top ten US metro areas for ozone levels:

Know where your city stands. The American Lung Association’s State of the Air 2010 lists these 10 cities as the country’s most polluted by ozone:

1.Los Angeles, Calif., metropolitan area (including Long Beach and Riverside)
2.Bakersfield, Calif.
3.Visalia and Porterville, Calif.
4.Fresno and Madera, Calif.
5.Sacramento, Calif., metropolitan area (including Arden-Arcade and Yuba City)
6.Hanford and Corcoran, Calif.
7.Houston, Texas, metropolitan area (including Baytown and Huntsville)
8.San Diego, Calif., metropolitan area (including Carlsbad and San Marcos)
9.San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles, Calif.
10.Charlotte, N.C., metropolitan area (including Gastonia and Salisbury)

Another power play by the EPA which needs to be slapped down. They’ve got TExas in their sights. , Perry has done a lot of tough talking recently, let’s see if he’s actually grown a pair.

[dfwgator]

This is hugh!