OEPA lets polluters write the laws;

excludes public participation

Ohio EPA is proposing new air pollution rules that significantly rollback the agency's regulation of air pollution sources, according to environmental organizations around the state. The groups say that the rules, drafted over the past two years by a coalition of industry and manufacturing groups, will have a dramatic impact on the health and quality of life of Ohio citizens.

According to a report from Ohio EPA, the new rules will reduce the number of permits it deals with by up to 40%. Ohio EPA estimates that more than 23,000 existing air pollution sources across the state will be exempt from their current air pollution permits. The agency has not released an assessment of the cumulative impact of this deregulation on local air quality, as well as on the state's ability to meet the national air quality standards for smog, which many areas are currently failing to meet.

“This move represents an abandonment of Ohio EPA's responsibility for oversight of thousands of polluting facilities in our neighborhoods,” said Karen Arnett , Program Director for Environmental Community Organization. “The agency has invited a committee composed solely of business interests to draft changes that clearly benefit corporate polluters while denying Ohio citizens their right-to-know what pollutants they are breathing.” Included on the committee are Ohio Chamber of Commerce, Ohio Chemistry Technology Council, Ohio Manufacturers' Association, Ohio Petroleum Council.

“This appears to be the polluters' dream come true, yet from the perspective of countless citizens in Ohio , it's a disaster,” said Sandy Buchanan, Executive Director of Ohio Citizen Action. “It is saying that only the biggest polluters should have to be monitored by the government, while the smaller factories, the ones most often found right in people's backyards, have carte blanche for their toxic emissions.”

“Ohio EPA is doing its best to get this rule passed quickly and quietly,” said Teresa Mills, Buckeye Environmental Network. “The polluters were allowed three years of low-profile, monthly meetings to craft these changes, and yet we've had to struggle just to get an extra thirty days.”

The air pollution permit system in Ohio has been around since the 1970s. It is a central tool in the agency's efforts to achieve and maintain compliance with the Ohio air quality standards, and to protect citizens from neighborhood sources of pollution.

Under the new rules, no one will be responsible for determining whether an exempt facility is located in a site where an amount of emissions, that might be small in terms of overall impact on the state's air, might be damaging in terms of exposure to nearby sensitive populations. Local governments could no longer ask the state to place conditions on or to deny permits where facilities would harm human health, or have other adverse environmental, social or economic impacts.

Additionally, public participation will be eliminated. “A cornerstone of the Clean Air Act is that the public has a right to know and to be involved in the regulatory process. We know that the Ohio EPA in many cases does its job only because citizens are looking over its shoulder. When the permits disappear, not only will the agency's authority to regulate polluters be reduced, but the public's role as watchdog will also suffer,” said Marilyn Wall , Conservation Chair of Sierra Club, Ohio Chapter.

Ohio EPA is now under federal orders to create a plan for bringing state air quality into compliance with federal smog standards, and environmental groups point out that no study has been made of the cumulative impact of the deregulation on this effort.

The environmental groups cite the following primary areas of concern with the proposed laws:

The state will no longer have the authority to shut down sources that are harming human health, the environment or public welfare.
The state will no longer have discretionary authority to deny permits to sources it deems to pose adverse social, economic, or environmental impact.
Sources will be exempt from required Best Available Controls (a current pollution control requirement) even when they emit compounds that are persistent, toxic and bioaccumulative, like mercury and PCBs.
The new regulation will reduce the information available to regulatory agencies.
The new regulation will eliminate public participation.
Sources that are currently operating without required permits could simply opt-in to an exempt status.