This weekly newsletter, focused on environmental issues, highlights relevant analysis done by the John Locke Foundation and other think tanks, as well as items in the news.
1. Hell Freezes Over: DENR thinks an air quality standard is too stringent
The Obama EPA, clearly the most extremist Environmental Protection Agency since its founding in the early 1970s, is proposing to tighten ozone standards to levels considered extreme and too costly even by North Carolina’s environmentalist-controlled Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
You will remember that the EPA under George Bush tightened the ozone standard from 85 parts per billion (ppb) in ambient air to 75 ppb, a standard that went into effect just two years ago. That standard was considered by many to be overkill, though not, of course, by NC DENR.
The effect of that new standard (the current standard) was to take the state from almost complete compliance to noncompliance in two of the state’s three metropolitan areas, Charlotte and the Triad. If the standard were ratcheted down again, the entire state would likely be out of compliance. That would mean a massive new cost burden on the state — a cost burden so great that even DENR head Sheila Holman, someone who had probably never seen an air quality standard she thought was too tough, thinks might be overwhelming.
As quoted in The News & Observer, Holman first notes that "we’re going to need additional pollution controls to achieve those lower standards." Then, sounding like she could be some right winger from the John Locke Foundation who (how does it go?) "cares more about costs than saving the planet," states that, "What is better for North Carolina’s citizens at this point? Do you want to keep them working with health care, or potentially face more layoffs?"
Stop the presses. Can that be? An NC DENR official actually recognizing that environmental regulations cost jobs? Excuse me, but I think they’ve started skiing in hell. Apparently these new regulations could take NC’s compliance costs from $70 million to $4.1 billion annually. At least that’s what The News and Observer is saying. But wait — don’t DENR and Ms Hollman remember that if there is even one child whose asthma symptoms are reduced, it’s all worth it — even if that child’s father is thrown out of work?
Links to recent JLF reports on ozone:
https://www.johnlocke.org/research/show/spotlights/234
https://www.johnlocke.org/research/show/spotlights/229
2. Wall Street Journal exposes biomass as another energy boondoggle that may not even reduce CO2 emissions
This article in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal exposes the truth about energy generated from biomass — wood chips, plant and shrubbery, etc. According to the article, biomass is not only excessively costly, with many projects closing down because of the excessive costs, but it may not be all that environmentally friendly.
Note that energy generated from biomass meets the requirements for "renewable energy" under North Carolina’s renewable energy portfolio standard passed in 2007.
Links to related JLF studies:
https://www.johnlocke.org/research/show/policy%20reports/202
https://www.johnlocke.org/research/show/spotlights/196
https://www.johnlocke.org/research/show/spotlights/174
3. Weekly Ozone Report
For the week of October 10-16, the NC Division of Air Quality reports no high ozone readings registered on North Carolina monitors. From April 1 through October 16, a total of 29 weeks, North Carolina has had 106 high ozone readings (0.076 ppm or above over an eight-hour period). These readings were scattered around the state over 33 out of 39 different monitors and over 26 different days. Most of the high ozone days to date have occurred in the Charlotte area and in the Triad. [Note: When an ozone alert is made through the media, it is only a prediction. Very often an ozone alert is issued but a high ozone day does not materialize. That is why we are reporting here that during certain weeks there were no actual high ozone days even though ozone alerts may have been issued and reported in the media.]
