April 4, 2008

Dallas Business Journal
Texas Manufacturers Association Says Plan to Clean Air Will Hurt Biz
Up to 14 additional counties could see stricter pollution rules

By Margaret Allen

The Environmental Protection Agency's tightening of the federal standard that limits smog will hurt Texas manufacturers and expand pollution control standards around Dallas-Fort Worth, industry groups say.

The federal agency approved tightening the nation's "ozone" standard on March 12.

Ozone, a precursor to smog, forms when volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxide combine in the presence of sunlight. Manufacturing plants, power plants and vehicles -- trains, planes, construction equipment, trucks and cars -- are some of the largest emitters of volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxide.

Already, nine counties around Dallas-Fort Worth are in violation of clean air standards. Under the tighter standards, that "nonattainment area" -- as it's known -- could expand to include five additional D-FW counties, and up to 14 in North Texas.

That's according to the National Association of Manufacturers in Washington D.C. The move will cost industrial companies billions of dollars to comply by forcing them to add more equipment to control emissions from the stacks on their factories, said association spokesman Bryan Brendle.

Industrial companies say the current smog standard is adequate and that stiffer requirements will hike energy prices, impose greater pollution-control costs and push even more U.S. manufacturing jobs overseas.

"They've changed the goal posts again, and this is a true threat to jobs, and certainly to Texas manufacturers' ability to compete globally," said Tony Bennet, president of the Texas Manufacturers Association.

The Austin-based trade group represents 200 large manufacturers. The tougher standard, which could go into effect around 2020, will force U.S. and Texas companies to reduce their pollution even further, said Bennet, who is also vice president of governmental affairs for Austin-based Temple-Inland, a building products manufacturer. The new standard places stricter controls on U.S. industry than many overseas competitors in countries like India and China, which have little or no environmental regulation, he said.

Others welcome the tighter standard.

"The new ozone standard is good for health," said Linda Koop, Dallas city councilwoman and a member of the North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee. Regional officials went on record supporting a tougher standard as the EPA took comment at public hearings in 2007.

The EPA has ordered U.S. cities to reduce their smog since passage of the 1990 Clean Air Act.

Such areas must apply stricter, more costly emission controls on industrial plants and vehicles. In D-FW, vehicles must pass an annual emission test, industrial emissions are policed, and the state has paid owners of polluting vehicles hundreds of millions of dollars to retire and replace them with cleaner-burning vehicles.

Cost and savings

Some argue it will save industry money, including Al Armendariz, assistant professor in the department of environmental and civil engineering at Southern Methodist University. Cleaner air means reduced absenteeism for sick days, reduced illness and health care costs, and reduced time off to tend to children home from school with asthma, Armendariz said.

The federal government has threatened to withhold transportation funding for regions that fail to meet the deadlines, but to date that hasn't happened.

"That's the million-dollar question," Armendariz said. Right now the state and federal administrations are pro-business and slow-moving at controlling pollution, he said.

"If those two dynamics don't change, this isn't going to change much," he said. "It's much more likely that a change in federal leadership will be more aggressive about environmental leadership."