State tries to be clear about smog

By John David Sutter

Published: May 27, 2008

OKARCHE — As she drives a truck route between Texas and Oklahoma, LeVona Patton keeps careful watch of the summer days when smog is high in the urban areas of Dallas, Houston and Oklahoma City.

"I just can't breathe. It shuts me down,” she said. "If it's gonna be a real high ozone day, I just stay home.”

But in rural Okarche, she says, the air is never a problem — always fresh.

State air quality regulators and other experts disagree.

As the summer smog season approaches, the state Department of Environmental Quality is launching a campaign to convince state residents that air pollution isn't just an urban problem — it can be unhealthy for everyone in the state.

The move comes as new information is available about the health effects of ozone, a pollutant formed when emissions from industry and tailpipes combine in hot, still weather. The more scientists know about ozone, the more severe the public health impacts seem.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in March tightened its ozone standard, saying that smog is dangerous at lower levels than previously thought. That decision came after the American Lung Association and others sued the agency to re-evaluate its standard. EPA scientists and advocacy groups suggested the standard should have been lowered even more than it was.

The rule change likely will put Comanche, Canadian, Oklahoma, Creek, Kay, Mayes, Cherokee, Tulsa and Ottawa counties out of compliance with the law, said Dave Bary, spokesman for the EPA's office in Dallas. That means that on some summer days, the air is unhealthy enough that people shouldn't get outside and exercise; and those with asthma, like Patton, might consider staying inside altogether.

Officials at the department say the public health risk in Oklahoma extends beyond the nine counties listed by the EPA.

Unhealthy levels of smog put all Oklahomans at risk, said Curt Goeller, a senior environmental specialist in the agency's air quality division.

"You find a person, you're going to find air pollution. That's just the way we are,” he said. "The more people, the more air pollution. It just goes hand in hand.”

Goeller said all of Oklahoma — except maybe the Panhandle — would be out of the compliance with the new ozone rule if the state had more air quality monitors to find the trouble spots. He said all of the state's ozone monitors show unhealthy ozone levels except for two — those in McAlester and Seiling.

Much of the state isn't covered by monitoring, he said.

Michelle Bernth, spokeswoman for the American Lung Association branch serving Oklahoma, said people think of ozone as a "very industrial pollution” associated with urban areas. "But the unfortunate situation in the U.S. right now is there are very few places that don't have an air quality problem,” she said.

Residents interviewed in Canadian County — which is just west of Oklahoma City and has had high ozone readings — were perplexed by the idea that smog can be found rurally.

They wonder where the pollution could be coming from.

"I just don't see a problem,” said Marty Hall, 54, who owns a diner in El Reno. "I just look up and the skies are still pretty blue.”

Hall said maybe traffic on Interstate 40 contributes to the pollution. He said he sees ozone alerts broadcast on the Oklahoma City news, but he never assumed he needed to take notice.

Dedra Snowden, 39, also of El Reno said her asthma acts up on some still, summer days. But she never assumed it could be because of pollution.

"I've never been to California ... I don't even know what smog would be like,” she said. "It seems clean to me.”

In Okarche, where some residents pride themselves on big clear skies and open spaces, questions about air pollution got laughs.

Otto Stover, 86, of Cashion said pollen and dust are the only air pollutants in Canadian County.

"I don't think there's a thing we can do here in Kingfisher County or Canadian County to affect our air,” he said.

Bernth, of the American Lung Association, says everyone needs to make a strong association between personal actions and pollution.

The first thing people can do to help is to change their driving habits, she said.

The EPA hasn't decided exactly how to reduce ozone levels under the new standard, Bary said, but it's likely that state governors will have to submit to the EPA a list of counties with high readings. The EPA then will force those counties to create plans for cleaning up their air. They will have to make those plans public by 2013, he said.

State environmental regulators said the issue should be addressed with national regulations. Air pollution moves around with the wind, so some rural counties won't be able to do much to reduce their own ozone levels, they said.

Goeller, of the state's environmental department's air quality division, said some of Oklahoma's highest ozone readings have come from counties along the Red River — and that most of that pollution can be assumed to come from the Dallas area, which has higher ozone levels than Oklahoma City or Tulsa.

No matter what the source of pollution, new understanding about the heath risks of smog will mean you'll see more ozone alerts — or "ozone watches,” as they're now being called) this smog season, which lasts through September.

And for the first time, the watches will be statewide, not just concentrated in urban areas.

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