Web posted
Thursday, March 27, 2008
High ozone levels recorded in sparsely-populated western Kansas
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WAKEENEY, Kan. (AP) -- Trego County covers 900 square miles in western Kansas and is home to a little more than 3,000 people.
It also is apparently suffering from smog.
A state air monitor in WaKeeney, the county seat, is registering unhealthy levels of ozone in the sparsely populated region, likely transported there from big cities in Texas, Oklahoma and possibly Colorado.
Ozone, which typically spikes in summer months, can cause health problems for young children, the elderly and people with respiratory problems. It's also giving environmental groups a headache.
''There's nothing that is out there,'' said Stephanie Cole, spokeswoman for the Kansas Chapter of the Sierra Club. ''That is disturbing.''
Wichita and Kansas City have long been smog hotspots in the state, Cole said, but the problems in Trego should really get people's attention.
''I think this should be an eye-opener that we have a serious air pollution problem, and we should be looking for solutions,'' she said.
An added wrinkle is that Sunflower Electric Energy Corp. wants to build two coal-fired power plants about 100 miles southwest of Trego County near Holcomb. The secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment denied a permit for the project in October, citing the plants' potential CO2 emissions, but state lawmakers are trying to pass legislation that would allow construction to continue.
Environmentalists say the Trego County ozone levels should lead the state to begin a scientific analysis of the plants' potential effect of the area.
''The monitor is directly downwind of the proposed power plant,'' said Craig Voland, an air-quality expert for the Sierra Club. He said that if the ozone levels increase a few more points, Trego County would violate federal regulations and face stiff anti-pollution measures.
Tom Gross, chief of air monitoring for the KDHE, said that's a premature worry.
''They don't even have a permit yet,'' he said of Sunflower. ''If they somehow end up getting it built, we will ... react accordingly.''
The KDHE installed the air monitor in Cedar Bluff State Park in 2000 to measure background ozone, or the amount of the substance that occurs naturally.
The monitor registers ozone levels on some summer days rising to 70 to 75 parts per billion. The Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee last year unanimously determined that ozone becomes unhealthy at 60 to 70 parts per billion.
The fact a monitor in a natural setting would still pick up high ozone levels surprises officials.
''There is nothing there but deer and birds,'' said Hardy Howard, city administrator of WaKeeney.
Many Trego County residents said they were unaware of the ozone problem.
''We think it is cool, clean air out here in the open compared to in the cities,'' said Bernita Augustine, an assistant manager at Gibson Health Mart, the town's local pharmacy.
Howard said he plans to discuss the ozone with state regulators while Larry Fabrizius, Trego County commissioner pro tem, said he first learned of the problem this week.
''I wouldn't know where to start to clean it up,'' Fabrizius said. ''We could yell at our neighbors in the big cities.''
State officials said there's little that can stop ozone being blown long distances on the wind. The Trego County ozone levels don't yet violate federal Clean Air Act standards. The state already is wrestling with ozone problems in several eastern Kansas counties and will likely focus on Wichita next.
Gross said western Kansas could create a strong planning organization that warns residents when ozone levels are high. Kansas City has such a system, but he acknowledged, ''it's a way bigger challenge for a smaller community.''
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