Environment subcommittee examines legislation to give states flexibility on ozone standards
The U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Environment recently held a hearing to review legislation that would give states more flexibility on the timeframe for implementing the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone.
Subcommittee on Energy Vice Chairman Pete Olson (R-TX) introduced the bill, the Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2017, which would update the Clean Air Act to provide additional time and
guidance to state and local authorities in an effort to enhance the effectiveness of the ozone standards’ implementation.
“The changes included in this bill would allow the EPA more time for strategies to be more thoughtfully developed, would help provide greater certainty within a more realistic timeframe for implementation of a new standard, and would allow for assessment of the effectiveness of control measures that have been put in place,” Marc A. R. Cone, P.E., director at the Bureau of Air Quality at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, said.
Nancy Vehr, air quality administrator at the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, applauded the additional flexibility the bill would give to states.
“Wyoming’s characteristics as an expansive, high-elevation, sparsely populated rural state differs from EPA’s traditional focus,” Vehr said. “As a result, we face unique challenges in implementing the EPA’s Ozone Standards in Wyoming. … Wyoming’s experience highlights why a one-size-fits-all approach to Ozone is not defensible. One-size-fits-all does not fit Wyoming.”
