When the agency’s commissioners voted against more restrictions on coal plant emissions in October, they said the change would be premature because the agency is already working on a federally required plan to reduce ozone in Dallas-Fort Worth. But in each of the five related plans it has developed since 1991, the agency has predicted that the region would meet federal ozone limits within one to five years — and it has always been wrong. In the 2011 plan, the agency’s staff said new federal gasoline standards alone would help ozone drop from more than 85 parts per billion to 78 in just two years (the current standard is 75 parts per billion), and staffers rejected dozens of other strategies suggested to improve air quality, such as reducing emissions from cement kilns and coal plants. Levels still hover around 87 parts per billion.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 13:18:57 +0000