Unseen ozone looms.

Byline: Diane Dietz The Register-Guard

They came from California, warning Eugene natives that smog, congestion and the end of the good life - as we know it - might be near.

Many Pacific Northwesterners may get tired of hearing from those doomsday ex-Californians. But, when it comes to smog, they might be right.

Eugene-Springfield sits in the heel of a great valley, just like smog-prone cities in the Golden State. These cupped landforms concentrate petrochemical vapors and vehicle exhaust.

Then a hot, still summer day comes along and cooks those atmospheric gases, transforming them into colorless, odorless ozone - a precursor to smog that's harmful to breathe.

"Ozone can be like a sunburn on the lungs. It can do damage that way," said Marcia Danab, spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

Eugene-Springfield's ozone levels rival those of Portland, a city with six times the population, climbing into the "unhealthy" range several times each summer. The ozone problem here is big enough that it violates new air quality standards proposed last month by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Future violations, after the standard is fixed next March, would eventually spur a cleanup to make the air in Eugene-Springfield healthier, especially for children with less-developed lungs and people with asthma or other lung conditions.

And that could require aggressive measures such as requiring gasoline manufacturers to supply less-volatile brews to area gas pumps, annual inspections for private vehicles, and a requirement that employers curb lone-driver commutes.

Southern California problem

This is a familiar problem to people who live in Southern California and along the Eastern seaboard where population and industry have violated ozone standards since the 1970s, when the federal air pollution standards were first set.

Residents with asthma or other lung problems know that when the ozone soars, they should stay indoors. And athletes and construction workers know they should ply their trades in the cooler, earlier hours of the day - before the sun begins its skyward ozone sweat.

It's important to distinguish this ozone from the layer that rests in the upper atmosphere and protects the earth from the sun's most damaging rays. Although the composition is the same, the stratospheric ozone is good for us and the down-to-earth variety is the primary component of smog, which is decidedly not.

The EPA, in fact, is revising its opinion about ozone since an American Lung Association lawsuit that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court forced the agency to analyze ozone's health effects.

Last October, the EPA's independent Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee recommended lowering the federal standard for ozone in the air to 60 parts per billion, from the current 84 parts per billion.

The panel considered studies that exposed healthy adults to ozone levels, which found people suffered pain with deep breathing, shortness of breath and coughs at levels as low as 60 parts per billion.

Other clinical studies found reduced lung function, inflammation and more susceptibility to respiratory malfunction. And large-scale population surveys found increased asthma medication use, school absenteeism and cardiac-related effects during times of high ozone.

"Large multi-city studies and three meta-analyses provide evidence of a robust association between ambient ozone and mortality," according to an EPA summary of the findings.

Last month, the EPA set aside the recommendations of its own panel and announced it planned to set the new standard at between 70 and 75 parts per billion. The agency added that it would also consider retaining the current standard.

The American Lung Association and the American Thoracic Society immediately launched a protest.

"The science is clear," said Dr. David Ingbar, president of the latter group, that "ozone pollution is causing unnecessary illness and death in America."

The EPA is holding hearings on its proposed standards in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago and Houston this summer. It has until March 12, 2008, to settle on a number.

Not at healthy levels

Ozone levels in Eugene-Springfield, meanwhile, are generally higher than the EPA's panel deemed healthy.

The agency calculates levels by taking the fourth highest local readings for three years and averaging them. Under that formula, Eugene-Springfield's levels have ranged as high as 73 parts per billion - 13 points over the most conservative standard and right in the middle of the looser range proposed by the EPA.

"Even with the current standard, there's not much margin for safety," said Merlyn Hough, executive director of the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency. "We have been in that range in the past six years."

Eugene logs higher ozone readings than Portland for a number of reasons.

First, decades ago, Portland air was dirtier and it violated federal standards for ozone and other pollutants, so the city was required to take measures to clean up the air, such as mandatory vehicle inspections.

While Eugene-Springfield is hampered by its valley geography, Portland enjoys its own cleansing chute.

"We benefit from the winds that come through the (Columbia) Gorge. We don't have that same valley effect that you have in the Eugene area that can trap the pollutants," the DEQ's Danab said.

Ozone on the move

Ozone can travel hundreds of miles. Hough said Eugene-Springfield's ozone often comes from distant points north. He said ozone measurements taken north of town aren't far different from those taken just south.

"We're being affected not just by Lane County emissions, but probably by the rest of the Willamette Valley and maybe even farther north," he said. "It's critical that we recognize just how regional a problem it is."

That's important because if the EPA sets a low standard and finds Eugene-Springfield in violation, local governments will be required to enact a series of air-cleaning measures or risk losing millions in federal highway dollars.

The EPA plans to rule by June 2010 on which communities nationally are in "nonattainment" status and which are home free.

"We would be waiting with bated breath," Hough said.

If Eugene-Springfield were found in violation, LRAPA would be charged with figuring out solutions. "We would look at the list of things Portland has done historically. That would be an obvious starting place," he said.

Possible strategies could include requiring gas stations to sell less volatile fuels so less petrochemical vapors find their way into the atmosphere.

All delivery tanker trucks could be required to use a system to keep fumes from escaping when pumping gasoline into underground tanks.

Vehicle inspections would be on the list, too, Hough said, although they'd be a lot different than the system that Portland has in place, which requires accelerating the car and taking measurements.

"You connect into the computer in the car and have the car tell you how it's doing," Hough said.

Eugene-Springfield residents, in the meantime, can take steps to reduce ozone formation on days when the thermometer climbs into the mid-90s, Hough said.

They include reducing the amount of driving, switching off the engine at drive-up windows, and refueling vehicles in the evening when evaporation is lessened.

Other strategies are to avoid using gas-powered lawn equipment in the heat of the day or using paints or solvents that put vapors into the air.

Reports on the local ozone level are available on The Register-Guard weather page and at the LRAPA web site.

LUNG DAMAGE

Exposures to

ozone can:

Reduce lung function

Irritate the airways, causing coughing, sore throat, pain when taking a deep breath and shortness of breath

Increase frequency of asthma attacks

Inflame and damage the lining of the lungs

Increase susceptibility to respiratory infection

Aggravate chronic lung diseases such as asthma, emphysema and bronchitis

Current ozone readings:

Log on to www.LRAPA.org, click on Real-Time Air Quality Data, drop down to Ozone Strip Charts, enlarge the Saginaw or Amazon Park charts, hit the left-pointing arrow to see the previous days' readings.

- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Lane Regional Air Protection Agency