By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
One of my first tech writing jobs was with an engineering firm who was working on the comprehensive development plan for one of our neighboring counties. A major focus of that work was related to extending sewer lines, and I learned a lot about septic tanks and leach beds and how our clay heavy soils stand up to leachate. Way more than I ever probably needed to know. Definitely more than I’ve ever practically used.
But I also learned a little bit about air pollution.
Specifically, what I learned was that one of the reasons they had so many industrial businesses on the Ohio side of the river, and we had so few on our side, was because of clean air standards. It was combination of issues stymying local industrial growth, with one being a quirk of geography.
Ohio, on the northern side of the river, was governed by a regional EPA office out of Chicago. Kentucky’s regional office was located in Atlanta.
This regional difference exacerbated the bigger issue; prevailing winds blow a lot of the pollution from Ohio based industry to the Kentucky side of the river, where it’s detected by air monitoring stations that record local air quality. Based on those numbers (which Ohio pollution contributed to) the Atlanta office was often more reluctant to grant permits for new industry on our side of the river.
In addition to this, the number of unpaved roads in the county I worked in raised the particulate levels collected at these monitoring stations. Meanwhile on the Ohio side, where increased industry meant an increased tax base and more money for road paving, those particulate levels were much lower. This meant they kept getting licenses out of the Chicago office for polluting industry – like coal coking plants – that in turn increased our pollution levels, keeping us from being able to welcome the same types of industries to our communities.
I hadn’t thought about that much in recent years, but I was reminded of it by a recent news story about a lawsuit filed by the state of Ohio against the EPA. Ohio is arguing that they should not be held responsible for the pollution that drifts from their state into neighboring states, a policy that the EPA’s “good neighbor plan” helps address.
Ohio has asked the Supreme Court to postpone implementing the plan, which is designed to protect downwind states from high levels of ozone depleting pollutants.
It’s hard to tell how the court will react, but they’ve been notoriously friendly to business in recent years, so it’s likely they will side with Ohio.
And just as likely that Kentucky, and Ohio’s other neighbors, will continue to lose. Economically and environmentally.