Senate Engrossed

State of Arizona

Senate

Fifty-second Legislature

First Regular Session

2015

SENATE CONCURRENT MEMORIAL 1014

A CONCURRENT MEMORIAL

urging the United States environmental protection agency to refrain from reducing the ozone concentration standard.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

To the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency:

Your memorialist respectfully represents:

Whereas, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to reduce the national ambient air quality standard for ozone from 75 parts per billion to 65 to 70 parts per billion, while taking comment on a level as low as 60 parts per billion; and

Whereas, the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to review the ozone concentration standard every five years, and the EPA last updated this standard in 2008, setting it at 75 parts per billion; and

Whereas, if the EPA reduced the standard to 70 parts per billion, nine out of 11 counties monitored for ozone levels in Arizona would be out of compliance; and

Whereas, if the EPA reduced the standard to 65 parts per billion, all 11 counties monitored for ozone levels in Arizona would be out of compliance, and the four rural counties that are not currently monitored might also be out of compliance; and

Whereas, a revised ozone standard of 65 to 70 parts per billion would result in widespread nonattainment designations in areas of the nation that already meet the current ozone standards; and

Whereas, based on 2011 through 2013 monitoring data, the EPA reports that 358 counties in the nation would violate a standard of 70 parts per billion and that an additional 200 counties would violate a standard of 65 parts per billion; and

Whereas, nonattainment area designations would limit economic and job growth by restricting new and expanded industrial and manufacturing facilities, imposing emission "offset" requirements on new sources of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds emissions, constraining oil and gas extraction and raising electricity prices for industries and consumers; and

Whereas, low-income and fixed-income citizens would bear the brunt of higher energy costs and utility bills; and

Whereas, according to the National Association of manufacturers, the EPA's proposal could be the most expensive regulation ever issued on the American public, costing the nation $270 billion to $360 billion annually; and

Whereas, according to the National Association of Manufacturers, the proposed ozone regulations could cost Arizona $28 billion in gross state product loss from 2017 to 2040, 19,982 lost jobs or job equivalents per year, $639 million in total compliance costs and a $520 drop in average household consumption per year; and

Whereas, the National Association of Manufacturers predicts that the EPA's proposed standards could result in a 15% increase in residential electricity prices, a 32% increase in residential natural gas prices and an 8% reduction in Arizona's coal-fired generating capacity; and

Whereas, the EPA has identified only 46% of the controls needed to meet the proposed standards, and the remaining 54% would have to be met with unknown controls that the EPA has not yet identified but that would likely have to include early shutdowns and scrappage of existing facilities, equipment and vehicles; and

Whereas, early retirement and scrappage of power plants, industrial facilities, heavy-duty trucks and equipment and automobiles would be much more costly ways to remove each additional ton of emissions than the controls the EPA has identified; and

Whereas, air quality continues to improve, and nitrogen oxide emissions are already down to 60% nationwide since 1980, which, after adjusting for economic growth, implies a 90% reduction in emission rates from the relatively uncontrolled 1990 rates for nitrogen oxide-emitting sources; and

Whereas, average ozone concentrations have decreased significantly in both urban and rural areas over the past two decades in response to state and federal emission control programs; and

Whereas, states are on track to be fully in attainment with the current standards, but some have not yet reached full attainment; and

Whereas, instead of giving states enough time to meet the current standards through ongoing emission reduction programs, the EPA now wants to move the goalpost by imposing a lower standard; and

Whereas, retaining the current ozone standards would provide for continued air quality improvement throughout the nation as emission reduction programs under existing EPA regulations are implemented.

Wherefore your memorialist, the Senate of the State of Arizona, the House of Representatives concurring, prays:

1. That the EPA refrain from reducing the ozone concentration standard from 75 parts per billion to 65 to 70 parts per billion.

2. That the Secretary of State of the State of Arizona transmit copies of this Memorial to the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and each Member of Congress from the State of Arizona.