Late Public Comment on Redesignation of Allen County, Indiana 8-hour Ozone Nonattainment Area to Attainment

From: John Mooney/R5/USEPA/US 10/30/2006 10:20 AM To: Steven Rosenthal/R5/USEPA/US@EPA, Louise Gross/R5/USEPA/US@EPA, Christos Panos/R5/USEPA/US@EPA cc: Jay Bortzer/R5/USEPA/US@EPA Subject: Fw: Docket ID NO. EPA-R05-OAR-2006-0399 Late comment on Allen County. Has to do with the stringency of the standard. ----- Forwarded by John Mooney/R5/USEPA/US on 10/30/2006 10:19 AM ----- From: clow@nd.edu 10/30/2006 09:47 AM To: John Mooney/R5/USEPA/US@EPA cc: Subject: Docket ID NO. EPA-R05-OAR-2006-0399 *** Attached are Appendicies that are refered to throughout letter *** Charlotte Low 2762 Hwy 67 Camanche, IA 52730 John M. Mooney Chief, Criteria Pollutant Section, (AR-18J) US Environmental Projection Agency 77 West Jackson Boulevard Chicago, Illinois 60604 Dear Mr. Mooney- My name is Charlotte Low and I am a concerned student in the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Notre Dame. I have recently been made aware that Allen County, Indiana is requesting Ozone Attainment Status for achieving the standards set by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), but ask you to take a look at the information I have attached and consider whether you feel that these standards are really protecting Allen County’s citizens. It is necessary that the county keep working hard to lower ozone concentrations even further to better protect its’ most vulnerable citizens. The standards set by the NAAQS allow a considerable amount of stress on the respiratory systems of the children and the elderly, but we are all affected by it. Ozone penetrates deep into the lungs causing a reduction in lung function, inflammation and increases the sensitivity to other allergens (Metcalf); ozone can cause cancer and eventually lead to death. Meanwhile it increases the costs of health care and school absences. The statistics correlating with this brief explanation are staggering and I encourage you to further examine Appendices C and D. Currently the standards set by the NAAQS are lax compared to most other industrialized nations. The ozone standards are weaker than 97% of the countries and organizations surveyed in a study done by Timothy C. Benner. If these statistics surprise you, I urge you to take a look at appendix A. The standards are obviously set to protect the citizens, but the manner in which the data are obtained could be more straightforward. Examples of how this may be better changed are given in Appendices E and F. Thank you for your time. We greatly appreciate everything you do to help keep our air safer. If you feel it would be beneficial for you I would greatly appreciate if you read over this document and made what effort you can. Sincerely, Charlotte Low [attachment "AllenCounty.pdf"] Comments related with the stringency of the 8-hour Ozone standard from Charlotte Low, student in the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Notre Dame.