New Hampshire will have three years to develop a plan to bring 52 communities in the high-growth southeastern sector of the state into compliance with new federal air quality standards.
The communities, which lie in Rockingham, Strafford, Hillsborough and Merrimack counties, are among those the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will designate as violating the more stringent federal standards for ground-level ozone in a national list to be released today, state and federal environmental officials said yesterday.
They said they expect the areas will be classified as moderately polluted, which would give the state until 2010 to achieve compliance under the tougher rules, which measure lower levels of exposure to ozone over longer periods of time.
The good news, according to state environmental officials, is the area now being designated in violation of ozone standards is about half what it was in 1991 when the old standard was used.
The improvements stem from better scientific methods for collecting data and reductions in smokestack emissions.
The number of unhealthy air days in New Hampshire fell significantly from the peaks seen 20 years ago, officials said. Typically, the state now has about 10 "bad air" days a year, most of which occur during the hot, summer months.
Ground-level ozone is a prime ingredient of a summertime smog and can irritate and sometimes damage the lungs, throat and eyes.
A break from Boston
Moreover, the EPA granted the state's request to break off from the Boston metropolitan area, which should make it easier to achieve compliance, or "attainment," with new federal clean air rules, said Robert R. Scott, director of the state Department of Environmental Services' Air Resources Division.
New Hampshire has been tied to the Boston metropolitan statistical area, which includes the Cape Cod town of Truro, he said. Truro's air is affected by a plume of unhealthy air coming from New York City, he said.
"We have nothing to do with the plume coming out of New York, nor do we impact them with air from New Hampshire," Scott said.
"The bottom line . . . is being able to not be held accountable for the New York plume that's hitting Cape Cod allows us to meet attainment a lot earlier," Scott said during a meeting of state and federal environmental officials at The Union Leader yesterday.
Still, monitors at Pack Monadnock and Mount Washington show up to 95 percent of the ozone in New Hampshire arrives here from other states, Scott said. Massachusetts is the largest single source of the ground-level ozone here, officials said.
"That puts New Hampshire at a disadvantage. You are saying we need attainment, but we can only control certain things," he added.
"If we turned off every industry in the state and had no cars . . . we would still exceed the standard because of the air coming in," Scott said.
So far, the state has successfully targeted power plants to reduce ozone pollution.
"For the most part, New Hampshire businesses shouldn't have to do anything differently than they are," Scott said.
Reducing vehicle emissions
Now the state will have to shift its focus to reducing vehicle emissions to achieve compliance with new federal standards by 2010, state environmental officials said.
"The bad news part of it is we got the easy stuff," Scott said of past efforts in working primarily with Public Service of New Hampshire to reduce smokestack emissions.
"Now we look at . . . telling somebody 'Gee, you need to drive less,' or change your paradigm of what you do. That's a lot harder," he said.
There are about 1.1 million cars registered in New Hampshire, he said. And the state's minimal public transport systems means people rely heavily on their vehicles.
Moreover, the area designated in violation lies in the fastest-growing section of the state, which likely will see even more cars and businesses in the future, said Jeffrey T. Underhill, chief scientist with the Air Resources Division.
The manufacture of newer, cleaner cars and cleaner fuels are some measures that should reduce car and truck emissions, they said. Steps to encourage retrofitting of diesel-fueled trucks and school buses to reduce emissions also are being considered, they said. And the state already is part of program to reduce the amount of time school buses idle while waiting to pick up students outside schools.
The public also will continue to be encouraged to be conservation-minded in their driving habits.
"People are driving their cars an awful lot more. There are more of them and they're going a lot further. The only way we can get ahead of it is cleaning up vehicles faster than we're increasing the driving," said Underhill.
Hillsborough, Merrimack, Strafford and Rockingham counties were designated as being in violation of EPA ground-level ozone standards in 1991. At that time, the rules measured ozone exposure during peak, one-hour periods.
The new standard measures exposure to lower levels of ozone over 8-hour periods.
The EPA will announces areas not in compliance with the clean air fine particle rule later this year.
