Industry says half the country can't comply with EPA's new ozone rule

If the rumors about the new ozone standards being considered by the Environmental Protection Agency are true, nearly half of the counties in the country will be out of compliance, according to an industry official. Howard Feldman, senior director of regulatory and scientific affairs for the American Petroleum Institute, said Friday the scientific advisers at the EPA have recommended setting the new ozone limits at between 60 and 70 parts per billion. Some trade publications have reported the new standard for ozone, the main component of smog, could be 68 parts per billion. If that speculation is correct, 1,433 counties in the United States will not be in compliance with the new standards, Feldman says. There are a little more than 3,000 counties in the country. "You're starting to affect smaller and smaller towns, many more counties across the nation," Feldman said. "This is a very large and severe rule that could have major economic impacts and could be the most expensive regulation ever." The estimate on compliance was derived from the EPA's own statistics from 2014, which were recently released...more