Price urges enforcing clean air standards across region

U.S. Rep. David Price, D-N.C., took the fight for cleaner air in the state to the nation's capital Thursday.

Price testified at the Environmental Protection Agency, arguing for the adoption of North Carolina's Section 126 petition that would mandate that upwind states including Georgia and Tennessee reduce their emissions. Attorney General Roy Cooper offered similar testimony at a hearing at the Research Triangle Park.

The EPA's response to the petition has been negative, Price said. The agency has pointed to the Clean Air Interstate Rule, a federal plan to reduce emissions during a 15-year period.

In 2002, North Carolina passed the Clean Smokestacks Act, one of the strictest air pollution laws in the nation, but it isn't enough, he said.

"I am confident that, as a result of my state's efforts, we will significantly reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by the end of the decade," Price told the EPA.

"Today, however, 26 whole counties and parts of six more counties in North Carolina still are designated nonattainment under the federal clean air standards for ozone due in significant part to pollution crossing our state's borders from upwind states."

Price said the Clean Air Interstate Rule is not enough. The problem is immediate with areas like Orange County in noncompliance with federal regulations.

"Just because the federal government has some long-term plan that may or may not (help) doesn't mean we shouldn't have a recourse to get those problems fixed," he said.

"The ironic result is that Georgia and Tennessee get off the hook because we are the ones who are reducing pollutants."

Price said that although discussions with problematic states have occurred in the past, they haven't been productive enough.

"Obviously, we are taking this action because voluntary compliance hasn't worked," he said.

Carrboro Mayor Mike Nelson, the director of governmental relations for the Conservation Council of North Carolina, said the solution must be a widespread policy.

"Air doesn't really know local boundaries," he said. "You have to have a regional or international solution to dirty air - We're all in this together."

Air pollution can cause serious health problems, Price told the EPA, noting statistics from the Southern Environmental Law Center that show that fine-particle pollution shortens the lives of more than 1,000 North Carolinians each year.

Nelson echoed the sentiment.

"We've got to clean that air up," he said. "There's no sense in allowing people to get sick from breathing dirty air."

 

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