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EPA: Fayette air unsafe

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@theCitizenNews.com

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week listed Fayette County among the 29 counties in Georgia and 225 across the nation where air quality still fails to meet federal standards.

According to the EPA, Georgia’s air contains too much soot or “fine particulate matter,” mainly the byproduct of coal-fired power plants and diesel-fueled trucks and buses.

Even though there are no power plants or heavily-traveled interstates in Fayette, the county comes under the gun because of its proximity to counties that do have those pollution generators.

Twenty-two of the 29 Georgia counties on the EPA’s list are clustered around metro Atlanta, which has been under federal order to clean up its air problems since 1990. The four counties that surround Fayette — Coweta, Clayton, Fulton and Spalding —Êare among those that failed to qualify.

The only Georgia counties on the non-compliance list that are not part of metro Atlanta are Clarke (Athens); Muscogee (Columbus); Floyd (Rome); Bibb (Macon); Monroe; and Catoosa and Walker (Chattanooga, Tenn.).

But in the same report, the EPA praised the fact that the levels of soot measured nationwide in 2003 were the lowest since monitoring began in 1999.

Monitored concentrations of soot have decreased 10 percent since 1999 and are about 30 percent lower than EPA estimates of levels 25 years ago, according to the report.

The improved air quality was largely attributed to the EPA’s Acid Rain Program, along with other programs that reduced emissions that contribute to fine particle formation.

The agency remains concerned for the millions of people who live in areas like Atlanta where particle pollution levels still exceed EPA standards.

The minute particles, composed of both solid and liquid chemicals, are 1/30th as fine as a human hair, and are especially alarming to health officials.

When breathed deep into the lungs, the particles can become lodged and go undetected for many years, until eventually leading to lung and heart disease, the EPA says.

The EPA is taking a number of steps to address particle pollution, including the implementation of the Agency’s first fine particle standards, the Clean Air Non-road Diesel Rule, and finalizing the proposed Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR).

States found in violation have until 2008 to come up with a plan to reduce soot in the air, which must be implemented by 2010.

The full report is accessible on line at www.epa.gov/airtrends.