The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is expected to argue only a small portion of Muscatine County – not the entire county – needs to be designated as in non-attainment for sulfur dioxide (SO2) pollution, a significant change from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) recommended plan.
The IDNR will hold two public meetings – 1 p.m. and 6 p.m., Thursday, March 28 – at the Muscatine County Conservation Board’s Environmental Learning Center, 3300 Cedar Street, Muscatine, to provide information on the proposed non-attainment designation and seek input from the public, businesses and other affected stakeholders.
At those meetings, IDNR officials also are expected to present an analysis of air monitoring in support of a much smaller designated area of non-attainment.
Under the non-attainment designation proposed by the EPA, existing SO2 pollution sources in the county could be required to reduce their emissions, and new sources that emit sulfur dioxide above certain levels would be required to be built with air pollution controls having the lowest sulfur dioxide emissions technically possible.
The 75 parts per billion (PPB) standard set by the EPA in June 2010 is designed to protect against high short-term SO2 exposures, which can be particularly harmful to children, the elderly and those individuals with asthma, bronchitis, emphysema and other lung and heart diseases.
Gov. Terry Branstad and the IDNR had tried to sidetrack the non-attainment designation two years ago, recommending to the EPA that Muscatine County be designated as "unclassifiable" under the new SO2 emission standards.
In its response to Branstad's letter, EPA Regional Administrator Karl Brooks last month outlined the reasons for the federal non-attainment action, pointing out that even assigning a zero emission level to disputed readings from an air monitor at Musser Park, the result was a sulfur dioxide level of 123 PPB, or 150 percent of the National Ambient Air Quality standard.
EPA has given the state until April 8 to provide it with additional information for consideration prior to EPA finalizing the non-attainment recommendation. EPA intends to finalize the non-attainment designation in June.
Since the EPA's non-attainment announcement last month, local business and industry groups have been lobbying against the designation claiming such a move would harm economic growth in the community.
