Ozone Pollution — Another Predictable Defeat

Source: Decline of the Empire

In a perverse sort of way, it is always gratifying to assert a rule of life and see it applied only a few days later. I stated the rule in Another Pointless Climate Protest.

When push comes to shove, economic concerns will always trump environmental concerns. That’s a Rule of Life. Get some small magnets, write it down on a piece of paper, and put it on your refrigerator door. For humankind, environmental concerns are a luxury they can afford when the economy is doing well. And in so far as the economy can not be expected to do well in the foreseeable future, environmental concerns are off the table for many years to come, if not forever.

President Hopey-Changey, “citing the struggling economy, asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday (September 3) to withdraw an air-quality rule that Republicans and business groups said would cost millions of jobs.”

The surprise move—coming on the same day as a dismal unemployment report—reflected the energy industry’s importance as a rare bright spot in adding U.S. jobs. The tighter standards for smog-forming ozone could have forced states and cities to limit some oil-and-gas projects.

In making the move, the White House clearly judged that it had more to lose from industry and Republican criticism than it had to gain from environmental groups who support the rule.

The EPA’s January 2010 proposal, to tighten air-quality standards to a level below that adopted under President George W. Bush and even further below what most states now adhere to, has been cited for months by industry groups and lawmakers as “regulatory overreach” that they say is undercutting the economic recovery. Republican presidential candidates have routinely criticized the EPA in stump speeches.

Mr. Obama said in a statement that he remains committed to public health and clean air, but he added, “I have continued to underscore the importance of reducing regulatory burdens and regulatory uncertainty, particularly as our economy continues to recover.”

The EPA had proposed that ozone standards be tightened to a range of 60 to 70 parts per billion, down from the 75 parts per billion adopted under President George W. Bush. Ms. Jackson, in choosing to propose a tighter standard, didn’t implement the Bush standard, and most states are now adhering to a level set in 1997 of 84 parts per billion.

The White House didn’t say whether it would implement the 75-parts-per-billion standard, but people on both sides said it was unlikely given the 2013 review now under way.

Just for the record, from howstuffworks.com—

Ozone is found naturally in small concentrations in the stratosphere, a layer of Earth’s upper atmosphere. In this upper atmosphere, ozone is made when ultraviolet light from the sun splits an oxygen molecule (O₂), forming two single oxygen atoms . If a freed atom collides with an oxogen molecule, it becomes ozone (O₃). Stratospheric ozone has been called “good” ozone because it protects the Earth’s surface from dangerous ultraviolet light.

 Ozone can also be found in the troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere. Tropospheric ozone (often termed “bad” ozone) is man-made, a result of air pollution from internal combustion engines and power plants. Automobile exhaust and industrial emissions release a family of nitrogen oxide gases (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC), by-products of burning gasolone and coal. NOx and VOC combine chemically with oxygen to form ozone during sunny, high-temperature conditions of late spring, summer and early fall. High levels of ozone are usually formed in the heat of the afternoon and early evening, dissipating during the cooler nights.

When you inhale ozone, it travels throughout your respiratory tract. Because ozone is very corrosive, it damages the bronchioles and alveoli in your lungs, air sacs that are important for gas exchange. Repeated exposure to ozone can inflame lung tissues and cause respiratory infections.

In addition to effects on humans, the corrosive nature of ozone can damage plants and trees. High levels of ozone can destroy agricultural crops and forest vegetation [above left, an ozone-damage plant on the left, compared to a health plant right.]

The usual suspects (Republicans, the American Petroleum Institute) opposed the rule, the usual suspects (Democrats, environmental organizations) were disappointed. The President made a political decision according to the Rule I stated above.

I never choose sides in such debates. After all, the Rule is the Rule, so what’s the point? I am thus not pro-economic growth or pro-environment according to political some preference. My view is that protecting the environment is not a political issue at all. It is a Life (the environment) versus Death (endless growth) issue. I am pro-Life (in this sense) and anti-Death.

If we were living in a world where the Rule didn’t necessarily apply, protecting the environment would obviously be the only way to go. In this ozone case, the environmental issue is relatively minor and easily remedied, although no actions will be taken as long as our economic prospects remain dismal. (This is tantamount to forever as far as I’m concerned.) In much bigger cases which can not be so easily remedied, such as anthropogenic destruction of the oceans and climate change, the right course of action is eminently clear. Unfortunately, the “economics trumps environment” Rule applies to all environmental problems, big or small.

The argument that destroying our Earthly habitat so a few more Humans can live higher on the hog is limited and self-defeating. Once we’ve effectively destroyed the environment, it’s game over.

We don’t live in that hypothetical world where it is possible to take a pro-Life position in the sense just described. We live in this deeply flawed world made designed by Humans. There is thus never any reason to get caught up in these bitter political squabbles in so far as they have a pre-determined outcome. I wish the world were otherwise, but that’s just the way it is.

Read more at Decline of the Empire