On sticky summer days when breaths are short and coughs come quickly, new data from the Government Accountability Office reveal that Washingtonians can point a finger of blame toward West Virginia. West Virginia, along with nearby Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Ohio, is home to more than a quarter of the nation’s 284 tall smokestacks emitting the byproducts of coal-powered energy that become lung-irritating ozone and particulate matter, according to the report. Those tall stacks — defined as more than 500 feet high — keep the byproducts away from their immediate communities, but send them instead to the D.C. area by way of typical west-to-east wind patterns.
Even as overall ozone levels have been declining because of factors like stricter environmental standards for cars, D.C. and its suburbs have one of the highest rates of ozone pollution in the nation, according to the American Lung Association. That translates to harder-fought breaths for the average resident, and potentially life-threatening problems for asthmatics and others with lung ailments.
Neighboring states’ emissions aren’t the only culprit. Cars and other burners of fossil fuels release the same troublesome gasses. But the D.C. region’s neighbors are a major factor, said Paul Miller, deputy director of the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management.
Blaming West Virginia by itself is unfair, “but you can point to West Virginia and say they’re a significant contributor,” Miller said.
The GAO report was released in advance of new rules the Environmental Protection Agency will issue this summer to further limit emissions of certain gasses that contribute to high levels of ozone and other lung irritants, effectively reducing use of the tall smokestacks, which tend to be older and lacking in environmental controls.
Should the EPA’s new rules be approved as written, required reductions would begin in the summer of 2012, said Doris McLeod, an air quality planner for Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality. “And that should translate to improved air quality,” she said.
