What is Ozone?
How can ground level ozone
affect your health?
What sources generate ozone
precursors
What
is being done in Hillsborough County to reduce ozone precursors?
Other ozone and air quality data
What is Ozone?
Ozone is a gas that occurs both in the Earth’s upper atmosphere and at ground level. Ozone can be good or bad, depending on where it is found:
Good Ozone. Ozone occurs naturally in the Earth’s upper atmosphere—10 to 30 miles above the Earth’s surface. It shields us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays.
Bad Ozone. Ground level ozone is produced when organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen compounds (NOx) react in the presence of sunlight. These chemical compounds are called ozone precursors. Ozone precursors are of particular concern during the summer months when the weather conditions needed to form ground-level ozone normally occur.
How can ground-level ozone affect your health?
Ozone can irritate your respiratory system. It can also reduce lung function and make it more difficult for you to breathe when you are exercising or working outdoors.
Ozone may aggravate chronic lung diseases such as emphysema and bronchitis and reduce the immune system’s ability to fight off bacterial infections in the respiratory system. Ozone can even inflame and damage cells that line your lungs.
What sources generate ozone
precursors?
Ozone precursors are emitted by motor vehicles, power
plants, refineries, small commercial engines, and other sources. These sources are
divided into
3 main
categories –
stationary, mobile and area. Periodically, EPC is required by EPA to give an account
of all precursor emissions in Hillsborough County by completing an “emissions
inventory.” This inventory represents all precursors generated in the county over a
calendar year. Click
to view the most recent emissions inventory.
What is being done in Hillsborough County to reduce
ozone precursors?
Tampa Electric Company Refueling Initiative
The Clean Air Partnership
West Central Florida Air Quality Coordinating Committee
Ozone Maintenance Plan
Tampa Electric Company Refueling
As a result of an enforcement settlement, Tampa Electric Company has implemented a 10-year $1 billion program that will dramatically decrease overall emissions from the company’s power plants. This will result in a 92.5% reduction of NOx precursor emissions. A major feature of the program is the conversion of Tampa Electric’s Gannon Station from coal to natural gas. (See the emissions reduction schedule)
The Clean Air Partnership
EPC and the Pinellas County Department of Environmental Management have collaborated to form the Clean Air Partnership (CAP) program to address the vehicular contribution to air pollution levels in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties. To find out more, visit the CAP website at: http://www.cleanairpartnership.com/
West Central Florida Air Quality
Coordinating Committee
(WCFAQCC)
EPC is a founding member of the West Central Florida Air Quality Coordinating Committee (WCFAQCC). The WCFAQCC was organized nearly 10 years ago. It is a regional consortium of air quality and transportation professionals representing the public and private sectors. To find out more, visit the WCFAQCC website at: http://hsc.usf.edu/publichealth/EOH/BRACE/WCFAQCC.html
Ozone Maintenance Plan
DEP has developed and submitted a ten-year air quality maintenance plan to the U.S. EPA. The underlying strategy of the maintenance plan is to maintain compliance with national ozone standards to assure that current and future emissions of VOC and NOx remain at or below the baseline emission levels established in 1990. This maintenance plan contains a statement of commitments made by the DEP that is designed to ensure continued compliance with the national standards in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties. Contingency measures are also included in the plan should compliance not be maintained.
For more information about other ozone and air quality data, visit
the websites
below:
State of Florida Emissions Data
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/air/ozonenet.htm
National Emissions Data
http://www.epa.gov/air/oaqps/emissns.html
National Air Quality Trends
http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/reports.html
Current Air Quality (AIRNow)
http://www.epa.gov/airnow/
Air Quality for Kids (EPA site)
http://www.epa.gov/airnow/aqikids/index.html
