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After four years, Wisconsin GOP forced to adopt air pollution standards

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After four years of Republican defiance and a lawsuit, the state Department of Natural Resources is finally ready to adopt federal air pollution standards.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published new limits on fine particulate matter in January 2013. Wisconsin law requires the DNR to adopt rules matching EPA standards to ensure state permits meet federal requirements but the Republican-controlled agency didn’t do it.

Environmental groups Clean Wisconsin and the Midwest Environmental Defense Center sued in 2014 to force the agency to comply.

The groups and the DNR quietly settled the lawsuit last year with an agreement calling for the DNR to get rules reflecting the federal standards into state code by March 31, 2017. Agency officials have now drafted the regulations and the DNR board is expected to adopt them at a Dec. 14 meeting and forward them to Gov. Scott Walker. If he signs off and no lawmakers object, the rules would likely go into effect in late March.

“We’re glad to see DNR finally adding these health-based air quality protections to help address the many respiratory illnesses like asthma, bronchitis and emphysema that many Wisconsin residents face,” said Amber Meyer-Smith, Clean Wisconsin’s government relations director. “It’s unfortunate that the DNR needs to be compelled to add these protections, but we’re glad they’re complying with the settlement timelines.”

DNR officials said at the time the lawsuit was filed that they were working on drafting the rules but it was slow-going because the rule-making process requires the DNR to analyze the standards’ economic impact. Agency spokesman Andrew Savagian said this week that Walker authorized the DNR to begin work on the rule in June 2015. He had no immediate comment on why work didn’t start until the settlement was reached.

Fine particulate matter is a mix of small particles and liquid droplets made up of acids, organic chemicals, metals, soil or dust particles often found near roads, dusty industries or in smoke from forest fires or power plants. The particles can pass through the throat and nose and enter the lungs, causing health problems, according to the EPA. The federal rules revised the annual standard for the amount of particulate matter allowable in the air from 15 micrograms per cubic meter to 12 micrograms per cubic meter.

DNR officials wrote in a Nov. 7 memo to Secretary Cathy Stepp that all areas of the state are currently within the new standards. They solicited information about what effect adopting the federal standards would have on businesses and particulate matter sources from more than 1,600 stationary sources in Wisconsin and a half-dozen business associations, including Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state’s largest business group and a staunch Republican ally, and concluded the regulations would have little to no impact.

The 2015 settlement also required the DNR to adopt tighter restrictions the EPA set in 2010 for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. The DNR sent those rules to the Legislature in April 2015, shortly before the settlement was approved. They went into effect this August.

Savagian said that rule took so long because it was the first one the DNR’s air program implemented under the economic impact requirement.

Sulfur dioxide is a gas produced from fossil fuel combustion at power plants and other industrial facilities. The gas has been linked to a number of respiratory ailments, according to the EPA. Nitrogen oxide results from vehicle emissions and contributes to smog. It can cause airway inflammation and exacerbate problems for asthma suffers, the EPA has said.

It’s unclear how Donald Trump’s presidency and solid Republican control of Congress will affect the future of environmental regulations. Trump has vowed to get rid of all federal regulations, and the GOP already has shown a willingness to do the same.

 

Environment, Milwaukee

Harley-Davidson pays $15 million in air-pollution settlement

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Harley-Davidson Inc. agreed Thursday to pay $15 million to settle a U.S. government complaint over racing tuners that caused its motorcycles to emit higher-than-allowed levels of air pollution.

Harley-Davidson manufactured and sold about 340,000 Screamin’ Eagle Pro Super Tuners since 2008 that allowed users to modify a motorcycle’s emissions control system to increase power and performance, according to court filings by the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency.

The racing tuners, which the prosecutors said were illegal “defeat devices” that circumvented emissions controls, also increased the amounts of such harmful air pollutants as nitrogen oxide spewing from the bikes’ tailpipes.

The government said Harley-Davidson also made and sold more than 12,000 motorcycles of various models between 2006 and 2008 with the illegal tuners pre-installed on them by dealers that were not properly certified as meeting clean air standards. Under the agreement, the company is required to ensure that all of its future motorcycle models sold in the United States are fully certified by EPA to meet air quality standards.

“Given Harley-Davidson’s prominence in the industry, this is a very significant step toward our goal of stopping the sale of illegal aftermarket defeat devices that cause harmful pollution on our roads and in our communities,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden, head of the Justice Department’s environmental division. “Anyone else who manufactures, sells, or installs these types of illegal products should take heed of Harley-Davidson’s corrective actions and immediately stop violating the law.”

The Milwaukee-based company said the tuners in question were designed for use on specialized track racing bikes and not intended for use on public roads.

“This settlement is not an admission of liability but instead represents a good faith compromise with the EPA on areas of law we interpret differently,” said Ed Moreland, Harley-Davidson’s government affairs director. “For more than two decades, we have sold this product under an accepted regulatory approach that permitted the sale of competition-only parts. In our view, it is and was legal to use in race conditions in the U.S.”

Under the agreement, Harley-Davidson said it will no longer sell the racing tuners. The company also will offer to buy back all such tuners in stock at Harley-Davidson dealerships across the country and destroy them.

The company said it now will offer a different model for sale designed to comply with state and federal clean air standards.

Harley-Davidson will also pay a $12 million civil penalty and spend $3 million to mitigate air pollution through a project to replace local conventional woodstoves with cleaner-burning versions.

EPA officials discovered the violations through a routine inspection and information submitted by the company. The case comes amid increased scrutiny of the use of defeat devices in the wake of last year’s revelations that Volkswagen sold more than 550,000 diesel cars and SUVs that contained illegal software to cheat U.S. emissions tests.

Hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions contribute to harmful ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter pollution. Exposure has been linked with a range of serious health effects, including increased asthma attacks and other respiratory illnesses.

“This settlement immediately stops the sale of illegal aftermarket defeat devices used on public roads that threaten the air we breathe,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator of EPA’s enforcement arm. “Harley-Davidson is taking important steps to buy back the `super tuners’ from their dealers and destroy them, while funding projects to mitigate the pollution they caused.”