By VICKI URBANIK

Rules on industry would be eased but motorists in Lake and Porter counties would still have to get their vehicles tested, under a proposal to redesignate the region’s air quality to “attainment” for ozone.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on Monday that it is proposing to approve Indiana’s request to change the non-attainment status. The proposed change will be published in the Federal Registrar, giving the public 30 days to comment.

The change, if finalized, will mean that new or expanding industries in Lake and Porter counties will no longer have to “offset” their ozone-causing pollution as they now do.

In a press release announcing the proposed change, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said he learned about the redesignation just before leaving on a job-insourcing trip to Europe.

“I couldn’t think of better news to get the trip started,” Daniels said. “We’ve worked hard to remove the ball and chain that has limited growth and job prospects in Lake and Porter counties.”

Tom Anderson, executive director of the Save the Dunes Council and a member of the Indiana Air Pollution Control Board, also welcomed the news, but took exception with the characterization that the industry regulations have hurt growth.

“I don’t see it as a ball and chain, but protections that protect public health,” he said, citing how children and the elderly are most at risk of health problems from poor air quality.

He said it’s his understanding that the $3 billion BP expansion in Lake County now underway is considered one of, if not the, largest construction projects in the state. And the reason why there hasn’t been an ozone exceedance, he said, is because of air quality rules that have been implemented in recent years.

“I think it speaks to the importance of rules,” he said. “I think things have changed in the last couple of years... and the results are in the air.”

Indiana first announced that it was petitioning for the redesignation in November of 2005, after three consecutive years in which air quality monitors showed no ozone exceedances. The IDEM says it wasn’t able to petition for redesignation until certain restrictions were repealed in 2005. The state then submitted its redesignation request in September of last year, after data showed that the federal ozone standard was met in 2004, ‘05 and ‘06.

The state had previously planned to file the petition in 2002, but those plans came to a sudden halt after monitors in Michigan City showed violations after a bout of hot, muggy summer weather.

Ozone, commonly called smog, is formed when a mixture of pollutants react on warm, sunny days. The pollution comes from vehicle emissions, factories and other sources.

Indiana had to submit a maintenance plan outlining how IDEM will continue monitoring ozone levels and how it would act if the air quality worsens.

Indiana has also submitted similar redesignation petitions for the other areas of the state also considered non-attainment: Clark and Floyd counties, Indianapolis and the South Bend region.

Although those areas are all non-attainment, motorists are required to get their vehicles tested only in Lake and Porter counties and the southern Indiana region in Clark and Floyd counties.

John Mooney, chief of the air pollution division at EPA’s Region V Chicago office, said the pollution levels or the population density in the other areas of the state haven’t been enough to trigger the emission testing programs.

When asked why the attainment status would ease the rules on industry but not motorists, Mooney said there is a difference between the industrial offsetting requirements and emission testing programs. Offsetting has largely been used to limit new industrial growth in an area, which in turn helps to curb new sources of pollution. But offsetting hasn’t been effective at reducing existing emissions, he said, while emission testing programs do.

He also noted that the attainment status doesn’t roll back any other rules on industry. If an industry is required by permit to have certain control technologies, it will still be required to do so.

Mooney said in some cases, a redesignation to attainment can lead to the elimination of the emission testing program, but that isn’t planned in Indiana. “The state doesn’t have any plans to do that,” he said.

Anderson said air quality rules have had a tremendous impact on improving the air quality. Another new rule is in the works: The Air Pollution Control Board has given preliminary approval to a new drip rule for vehicles getting tested. Vehicles that were made between the years of 1976 and 1995 won’t be allowed to get tested if they are dripping certain fluids. The rule would mean that motorists would have to correct the drip problem even before they can get their emissions tested.

Anderson said he supports the new rule, but would like protections so that the new rule would not be so onerous on lower income motorists.

IDEM’s redesignation petition and maintenance plan can be viewed on IDEM’s web site at www.idem.IN.gov/programs/air/redesignations

 The public can submit comments on the proposed redesignation at http://www.regulations.gov

 Refer to docket ID number EPA-R05-OAR-2006-0474 and follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Comments can also be sent by e-mail to mooney.john@epa.gov

 or faxed to (312) 886-5824.

Posted 5/16/2007