Reviews Will Help All Breathe Easier In Va.

Increased ozone and soot pollution is sickening Virginians with breathing problems and keeping them indoors, especially in summer. So we support the systematic review announced Tuesday to help older industrial plants conform to newer clean air standards. The effort will provide health benefits for everyone.

Ozone and soot have become so problematic in summer months in recent years that residents of Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads have been urged to carpool and avoid unnecessary travel. Children, older citizens and people with breathing difficulties have been urged to stay indoors. Even healthy adults find themselves gasping for air during peak ozone periods.

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, in announcing the effort, said the review will start with three industrial facilities – two power plants and a paper mill – that were built decades ago and were never subject to the Clean Air Act because of their age.

Kaine traveled to Dominion Virginia Power Co.’s Chesterfield Power Station – one of those three sites – to make the announcement. The two other initial sites targeted for the review are American Electric Power’s coal-fired plant in Glen Lyn in Giles County and the MeadWestvaco paper mill in Covington, in Alleghany County.

Years ago, Atlanta was the first city in the South to grapple with ozone alerts because of its population and heavy vehicle traffic. Today, many metropolitan areas regularly issue summer ozone alerts, when heat and sunlight react with nitrous oxide to form ozone. The color-coded alerts, established by the American Lung Association, range from orange (unhealthy for sensitive populations) to red (unhealthy) to purple (very unhealthy). Details for the ozone and particulate scales are at www.stateoftheair.org.

While ozone is a greater issue in summer, particulate matter is a year-round problem.

Dominion, AEP and MeadWestvaco deserve credit for working with the governor’s office to address potential pollution coming from their plants. We support Kaine’s plan to examine these aging plants for ways to reduce any pollutants in the environment. And we give credit to the companies for stepping up to participate in the program.

But power plants are only one part of the puzzle. A huge piece is transportation and the millions of vehicles emitting exhaust and particulate matter in metropolitan areas. It is painfully ironic to be stuck in miles of traffic, with cars baking in the sun and belching exhaust, while reading an electronic billboard that urges motorists to carpool or avoid unnecessary driving that day. Most have no other transportation option. Millions of motorists in Northern Virginia, Richmond, Hampton Roads and elsewhere are contributing to the ozone and soot pollution simply by trying to get to work.

Kaine’s plan to study the grandfathered power plants is an excellent step toward cleaner air and improved health for everyone. Any older plant that is not subject to regular reviews is an obvious place to look for possible ozone and soot pollution.

But we also must insist on examining transportation planning in Virginia and how it effects land use. Despite our love affair with the car, if more people had public transportation options, we believe they would use them, especially as gas prices rise and fall and people understand how exhaust contributes to pollution. Very few public transportation options exist today, except for metro service in limited parts of Northern Virginia.

Until an ozone alert forces you to gasp for air or keeps your child from playing outside, it’s difficult to connect the pollution to daily life. Yet anyone who has a breathing problem, such as asthma or emphysema, knows how hard it can be to breathe on a regular day, let alone on a high ozone or particulate day when it is dangerous for them to be outside.

And the number of Virginia communities affected by ozone issues is growing. Northern Virginia already is designated a “non-attainment” area for both ozone and soot. The Environmental Protection Agency passed new ozone standards last year and based on Virginia’s own recommendations, the Fredericksburg, Richmond and Hampton Roads areas could be designated as “non-attainment” for ozone and the existing “non-attainment” area for Northern Virginia could be expanded.

We support Kaine taking steps now to find out if Virginia Power Co.’s Chesterfield Power Station or AEP’s coal-fired plant in Giles County or the MeadWestvaco paper mill in Covington are contributing to these pollution problems. They are obvious places to investigate because they sit in areas that experience high ozone and particulate pollution and are exempt under the Clean Air Act because of their age.

But we also support incentives for people to trade in their clunkers for low-emission cars and plans for mass transit in metropolitan areas. Older power plants should be made to adhere to more modern pollution standards, but vehicle exhaust is a big part of this puzzle that sickens so many people.