Upstate must develop plans to combat smog, soot to avoid federal sanctions

Greenville-Unhealthy air quality puts the Upstate at risk of costly federal sanctions such as the loss of federal highway funds, if state and local leaders fail to develop transportation and land use plans that protect air quality. A new report, Clean Air for the Upstate: An Action Agenda, released today by the Southern Environmental Law Center, warns that even if the region, which recently suffered the nation's greatest increase in number of days with unhealthy air, does meet the 2007 deadline for cleaning its air, it will be challenged to maintain healthy air in the coming decades, as the law requires.

"Having healthy air to breathe both now and in the future is too important to take chances with so the region must tackle all the major causes of poor air quality," said David Farren, air quality attorney and author of the report. "Supporting development that fosters less automobile reliance and promotes public transit, while continuing to address power plant pollution will help the Upstate avoid federal penalties, and more importantly, will help Upstate residents breathe easier."

The Upstate already violates federal standards for ozone pollution, or smog, which can aggravate asthma and trigger attacks. Asthma is the leading cause of hospitalizations and disability for children in South Carolina, with 46,000 adults and 20,000 children suffering from the disease in the Upstate alone. Last year, Spartanburg county saw 31 high ozone days, prompting the American Lung Association to give the county an "F" for ozone pollution.

In addition, the Upstate is on the verge of violating the federal standard for fine particle pollution. These tiny droplets of chemicals, metals and dust commonly called "soot," are released by power plants, and penetrate deeply into lungs causing cardiovascular disease and lung cancer deaths.

"Research studies have tied air pollution to asthma attacks, cardiovascular and respiratory illness, cancer, birth defects and even death. Unfortunately, millions of Americans, including those in the Upstate, live in areas where air pollution puts them at risk -- especially our children, our elderly and those with lung disease," said Greg White, Vice President of the American Lung Association, Southeast Region. "For these reasons, the American Lung Association has been a leader in the fight for all people to breathe clean air and support efforts, like those outlined in this report, to help regions get there."

In April, 2004 Greenville, Spartanburg and Anderson counties were designated as "nonattainment" for failing to meet new federal health standards for smog. The three counties, joined by adjacent Cherokee, Oconee and Pickens counties, entered EPA's Early Action Compact program which suspended the nonattainment designation in exchange for the region agreeing to meet an earlier clean-up deadline of 2007. However, if the Upstate fails to meet this deadline or other required milestones, the nonattainment designation will be activated.

While preliminary state modeling suggests that the Upstate may be on track to barely meet the 2007 deadline, even a slight deviation in the model, such as hotter weather or fewer clean cars on the road than expected, could cause the region to miss the deadline. In addition, the standards are expected to become more stringent in coming years, prompting the need for proactive pollution control measures to be taken now.

Much of the Upstate's pollution problem can be attributed to an increase in population and development patterns which continue to promote dependence on cars for transportation. The region's population increased by about 22 percent between 1982 and 1997, while development consumed land at three and a half times that rate. The increase in driving as a result of this sprawling development is slowing progress in cleaning the region's air. At the same time, power plant and other industrial pollution are responsible for about one-third of the region's ozone pollution and for the vast majority of particle pollution.

The Upstate has taken many positive steps toward curbing these health threats and meeting federal clean up deadlines, such as tightening the requirements for industries emitting ozone-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) and developing new restrictions on burning trash. However, the report outlines a number of strategies to further improve the region's air quality such as coordinating its transportation and land use planning on a regional level to better address the impacts of major developments; making alternatives to single-occupant vehicles priorities in the region's transportation funding; and pushing for aggressive implementation of federal and state programs to reduce power plant pollution.

Clean Air for the Upstate is the fourth in a series of reports the Southern Environmental Law Center has prepared for those areas of North and South Carolina with the unhealthiest levels of air pollution. Over the past several years, SELC has also worked to help bring the city of Atlanta into compliance with the Clean Air Act, through legal enforcement of transportation funding sanctions, and promoting policy changes in the areas of air quality, transportation and land use planning.