The state s clean air proposal calls for significant emissions reductions from utilities and a series of measures to reduce pollution from motor vehicles, the largest source of ozone-forming pollution in North Carolina. The N.C. Department of Transportation is committed to working closely with DENR to find workable solutions to reduce air pollution from the state's motor vehicles, according to DOT Secretary Norris Tolson. At DOT, we understand our fundamental responsibility to provide an integrated transportation system that boosts economic development and maximizes mobility while protecting the environment and our natural resources, said Tolson. We will continue to work with DENR on a plan to reduce air pollution throughout our state. High ozone levels can be unhealthy to breathe, particularly for children, the elderly and people with asthma or other respiratory problems.
Ozone also can damage trees and crops.
Because of such concerns, the EPA in 1997 adopted a stricter federal ozone standard, which North Carolina supports. Under the accelerated EPA s SIP Call, all of North Carolina s utilities and some large industries would be required to cut their NOx emissions by about two-thirds by 2003. Another reason for the North Carolina alternative is that the EPA SIP Call is based on claims that air pollution from North Carolina causes states in the Northeast to exceed the old ozone standard, despite evidence that emissions from North Carolina do not significantly affect those areas. This has been shown in studies by North Carolina as well as the Ozone Transport Assessment Group, a multi-year analysis of ozone formation and movement in the Eastern U.S. Research shows that North Carolina has little impact on air pollution problems in the Northeast, said Bill Holman, DENR s assistant secretary for environmental protection. This problem is far too serious for North Carolina to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to fix problems we do not cause.