Maybe A Blessing In Disguise

G. sends out word of another Obama "cave":

Statement by the President on the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards

Over the last two and half years, my administration, under the leadership of EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, has taken some of the strongest actions since the enactment of the Clean Air Act four decades ago to protect our environment and the health of our families from air pollution. From reducing mercury and other toxic air pollution from outdated power plants to doubling the fuel efficiency of our cars and trucks, the historic steps we’ve taken will save tens of thousands of lives each year, remove over a billion tons of pollution from our air, and produce hundreds of billions of dollars in benefits for the American people.

At the same time, I have continued to underscore the importance of reducing regulatory burdens and regulatory uncertainty, particularly as our economy continues to recover. With that in mind, and after careful consideration, I have requested that Administrator Jackson withdraw the draft Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards at this time. Work is already underway to update a 2006 review of the science that will result in the reconsideration of the ozone standard in 2013. Ultimately, I did not support asking state and local governments to begin implementing a new standard that will soon be reconsidered.

I guess I'm supposed to be annoyed, but I'm thinking instead that it may be a kind of blessing. Make no mistake: no one has ever established a "safe" level of ozone, and it's probably an unattainable goal - ozone is always destructive. Once you start getting to lower standards, however, you have to start worrying about emission sources you had ignored previously.

The paradigm of setting lower standards in order to achieve cleaner air may be reaching the end of its usefulness. With ozone, cause-and-effect relationships can be difficult to establish. Ozone can appear far downwind of emission sources, including natural sources of organics, like forests.

I remember watching an ozone monitor in the winter of 1985/86 near Flagstaff, AZ. Concentrations of 75 ppb were being reached. Likely contributors of ozone precursors were the local forest, and distant Los Angeles. Tighter ambient air quality standards would do little to address emissions from either source.