THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 12, 1995 TAG: 9507120385
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
Hampton Roads soon will be introduced to a new phrase that urges residents and business owners to alter their daily lifestyles, if only slightly:
Ozone alert.
The ominous-sounding phrase means that weather conditions are ripe for the formation of ground ozone, or smog, which seems to accelerate when skies are sunny, clear and with little wind - meaning, most of the summer.
On particularly ripe days, forecasters from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality will issue an ozone alert through the local media, asking people to voluntarily limit the amount of pollutants they release into the air.
Activities such as filling up cars and trucks with gasoline during the midday heat, painting outdoors during the day, using a gas-powered lawn mower and driving to the store - all contribute emissions to an unhealthy chemical equation that produces smog.
The stakes are high. This summer, Hampton Roads is being scrutinized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which has given the region one last chance to cut its smog violations to zero.
If smog readings violate clean-air standards for even one hour this year, Hampton Roads faces federal penalties. Most notably, they include mandatory tailpipe tests on most vehicles and expensive restrictions on what business and industry can legally emit into the sky.
In addition, excessive smog is a proven health hazard, especially to young children, the elderly and those suffering from respiratory ailments, warns the American Lung Association.
``The implications are enormous for the well-being of this whole region, both from an economic and environmental standpoint,'' said Dwight Farmer, director of transportation for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, which first suggested issuing ozone alerts.
If the region fails this smog test, and the EPA upgrades Hampton Roads from a ``marginal'' to ``moderate'' pollution zone, the commission estimates the economic loss at $130 million a year, or about $240 per family.
Conversely, if the region registers no violations this year, officials can petition the EPA to remove Hampton Roads from a national list of polluted cities. Los Angeles tops that list.
To get off the list, a city or region cannot have more than three violations over three consecutive years. Hampton Roads recorded three violations in 1993, and none last year. It hopes for another clean slate this year.
So far in 1995, because of mild weather, no violations have been registered at the three monitoring stations in the region - in Hampton, Suffolk and Holland.
The stations look like small trailers, each with a single blow-hole in its roof that continuously absorbs air and is chemically studied by special equipment inside.
The commission's staff also is discussing smog-cutting deals with Virginia Power, the military and the Hampton Roads Sanitation District.
For example, Farmer said the sanitation district may delay turning on its diesel-fueled auxiliary power sources, which spew smog-producing emissions, until later in the day.
Smog readings peak between noon and 6 p.m., when sunlight is brightest, and are lowest early in the morning, experts say.
Likewise, military leaders in Hampton Roads have offered to reduce their refueling of vessels and trucks during peak smog times, as well as limiting their use of solvents and paints when possible, Farmer said.
Solvents and paints emit volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, while fuel-burning plants and vehicles discharge nitrogen oxides. Together, the chemical byproducts mix with intense sunlight to make smog.
Ozone alerts currently are broadcast in Richmond and Northern Virginia, where smog levels also are too high to comply with federal guidelines. Both areas have worse problems than Hampton Roads, however.
Richmond experienced one violation last year, but that was before the capital started forecasting, said Dan Salkovitz, a senior environmental engineer who oversees smog predictions in Virginia.
Salkovitz said his forecasts have been about 80 percent accurate in Richmond and about 75 percent in Hampton Roads.
Some environmental groups view ozone alerts as Band-Aids to the smog problem. Instead of warning people not to do certain activities during strategic times of the day, government should be taking actions to permanently reduce smog, some activists say.
The American Lung Association sees alerts as a first, educational step toward people understanding the risks of excessive smog.
``Sure, we support the notion of regulating more,'' to reduce smog, said association spokeswoman Lisa Tondora. ``But you can't change people's behavior with education first. Alerts let people know this is a serious problem.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphics
OZONE RECOMMENDATIONS
On days with high levels of ozone, the Virginia Department of
Environmental Quality will ask residents to:
Postpone refueling vehicles and equipment until after 5 p.m.
Postpone using gas-powered lawn equipment until after 5 p.m.
Postpone discretionary trips.
Ride-share of use public transportation.
Limit idling of vehicles and equipment.
STAFF
HAZY DAYS
Number of days that smog exceeded health standards in Hampton
Roads.
SOURCE: Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
KEYWORDS: AIR POLLUTION by CNB