County nearing non-attainment with ozone levels
The air quality in Hays County still meets national standards, but ozone pollution is close to putting the county in non-attainment, according to a presentation the city council heard last week.
Andrew Hoekzema, director of regional services for the Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG), showed the council the most recent air quality numbers for Hays County and the rest of CAPCOG’s 10-county area. Every county under CAPCOG’s purview — Hays, Caldwell, Blanco, Llano, Burnet, Travis, Williamson, Lee, Bastrop and Fayette — is in attainment, meaning the levels of pollutants measured by the Environmental Protection Agency are all below the EPA threshold, or is unclassifiable.
However, Hoekzema pointed out, “Ozone is the one that we really have a compliance issue with. We have consistently, over the years, just narrowly avoided getting designated nonattainment for the ozone standard.”
According to CAPCOG data, the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area’s ozone levels were at 99 percent of the threshold. And during a recent two-week stretch of what Hoekzema called “very bad air pollution” days, the highest ozone measurement was taken in San Marcos on Aug. 1.
Hoekzema said that pollution from Bexar County — which was recently put in the nonattainment category — was actually a contributing factor to that reading.
“There was no wind that day, if I recall,” Mayor John Thomaides said.
“That’s part of the issue,” Hoekzema said, adding that weather conditions can contribute to high pollution levels.
Council member Scott Gregson asked if cars idling in traffic contribute to pollution levels, and Hoekzema said yes. He explained that vehicles make up about 40-45 percent of noxious emissions, and personal vehicles account for about half of that.
Despite the high ozone levels, Hoekzema said that over the years, as thresholds for ozone pollution have lowered, so have ozone levels in the Austin area.
There are several reasons to be concerned with air pollution levels, Hoekzema said.
“Air pollution is a public health issue,” he said, particularly for about 40 percent of the population that fall into one of several sensitive groups: children, the elderly and people with chronic respiratory problems.
Besides health and environmental effects, high levels of air pollution can affect economic development and transportation planning. Hoekzema said the EPA is prohibited from considering the cost of compliance with standards. Moreover, if a county is declared in non-attainment, there are at least 23 years of regulatory consequences, including limits on new or expanded point sources, additional hurdles for air permitting and transportation, additional costs for existing businesses and other hurdles.
Hoekzema said that nonattainment designation can cost $24-$42 billion in potential economic losses, according to a 2015 CAPCOG study.
