Wednesday, February 23, 2000
Report: Ozone increases illnesses here
Group calls for tougher controls
BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
New estimates of Tristate hospital admissions and emergency room visits released Tuesday suggest the human cost of smog.
The survey, “Ohio Valley — Ozone Alley,” blames the ozone in smog for 305 extra hospital admissions to treat aggravated respiratory problems in Hamilton, Clermont, Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties during 1997, the latest year for which full data were available to researchers.
Every year, thousands of anxious Ohio and Kentucky residents fear that breath-taking pollution could drive them into physicians' offices, emergency rooms and hospital beds. That care costs millions, and their misery is at the heart of the new survey commissioned by the Ohio Environmental Council, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group.
The survey attributed 914 emergency room visits — in addition to patients admitted to hospitals — to ozone-aggravated respiratory problems as well as tens of thousands of asthma attacks and complaints of self-medicated and minor breathing difficulties.
The survey also called for stricter emissions controls on coal-fired power plants, the primary culprit in the ozone problem.
This ignores the fact that ever-cleaner Tristate air finally meets federal smog limits, Cinergy spokesman Steve Brash responded. “The environmental community has a helluva time saying anything has improved,” he said.
Mr. Brash also faulted the study for what he said was a simplistic focus on ozone when other factors can aggravate respiratory problems.
Moreover, he said, the survey's numbers also rely on a longer ozone season than is experienced here and what appears to be a lower standard than even the Environmental Protection Agency advocates.
Ground-level ozone — the sickening ingredient in smog —
is created when nitrogen oxide (NOx) and volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) cook on sunny, warm days.
Most NOx in the Ohio Valley comes from coal-fired power plants and vehicle exhausts. VOCs come from vehicle exhausts, evaporating gasoline at the pump, industrial fumes and myriad other sources.
Children and the elderly are most vulnerable to smog-related health problems, but anyone working or playing outside is at risk.
Based on laboratory experiments with mice and clinical experience, “it is a problem,” according to Dr. William Hardie, a pulmonologist at Childrens Hospital Medical Center.
“During the summer months, I see kids who can't play outside because the air pollution levels put their ability to breathe at risk,” he said. “It's frustrating to them. They want to ride their bikes, they want to play soccer.”
Still, he doesn't see a “rush for the emergency room” because cautious parents keep the most-susceptible children inside during smog alerts. “Then Mom's not happy, the kid's not happy.”
Moreover, he was cautious about the weight given to ozone as an aggravating factor because so many other variables can trouble children with asthma.
Missing from the survey was any dollar value for smog-exacerbated health problems, including medical care and lost productivity by victims or stay-at-home caretakers who miss work.
Kurt Waltzer, primary author and editor of the survey, said such dollar estimates were beyond the means and goals of “Ohio Valley — Ozone Alley.”
If anything, health impact estimates calculated by the council's Washington-area consultant, Abt Associates, understate the Tristate problem.
Abt excludes Butler and Warren counties because the study covers only counties along the Ohio River, even though Butler and Warren are part of the smog control region that includes Hamilton, Clermont, Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties.
“Ohio Valley — Ozone Alley”has at least two purposes and one conclusion:
• First, it agrees with partisans who blame some of New England's smog problem on NOx emissions from coal-fired power stations in the Ohio Valley.
• Second, it argues that even if Ohio Valley residents won't reduce NOx for New Englanders' sake, fewer pollutants would improve health at home.
• In conclusion, the report says the most effective way to reduce smog is to tighten NOx controls on all power stations, especially older facilities operating under looser limits than newer facilities.
Citing Environmental Protection Agency figures, the report says that targeting power plants would be the cheapest way ($1,700 a ton) to achieve NOx reductions and that would cost the average residential electricity customer $12 a year.
Cinergy's Mr. Brash pooh-poohed that figure as outdated and discredited, saying it was “way off base.” Real expenses would be “much higher” and would cost Cinergy up to $700 million for equipment plus annual operating expenses of $100 million to $150 million. He did not have per-household estimates.
As expensive as utility-based NOx reductions would be, Tuesday's survey says alternatives are costlier: vehicle inspection and maintenance programs such as E-check, $2,600 a ton; cleaner-burning reformulated gas, $3,600 a ton.
Meanwhile, Mr. Brash noted, federal courts have tied up EPA's latest NOx standard and Cinergy is pursuing its voluntary NOx reduction plan, meant to cut two-thirds of the pollutant from its power stations, irrespective of age and applicable limits.
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