AAC F A M I L Y & F R I E N D S
www.naco.org
Montgomery County Judge participates in NACo PILT meetings in Washington Montgomery County Judge Alvin Black
traaveled to Washington, D.C., in September to urge members of Congress to approve im- mediate and long-term funding for the PILT program. He was part of a NACo group com- prised of more than a dozen county officials from 15 states. On Sept. 18, days before its congressional authorization expired, NACo held a briefing with a bipartisan group of lawmakers and launched a new online resource center with national and county-specific information about the PILT program. Sixty-two percent of counties have federal
lands within their boundaries. Tey provide significant support for national parks and for- ests, wildlife refuges, recreation areas and oth- er land that covers roughly 640 million acres, or nearly 28 percent of the U.S. More than 280 million people visit America’s national parks and other federal public lands each year. Tis year, the PILT program provided $437 million to approximately 1,900 counties and other local governments to offset forgone tax revenues due to the presence of substantial acreage of federal land in their jurisdictions. Despite not being able to collect property tax on federal lands, county governments must still provide important services for their resi- dents and visitors to public lands, including solid waste disposal, law enforcement, road and
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About NACo – The Voice of America’s Counties
National Association of Counties (NACo) is the only national organization that represents county governments in the U.S. NACo provides essential services to the nation’s 3,068 coun- ties. NACo advances issues with a unified voice before the federal government, improves the public’s understanding of county government, assists counties in finding and sharing innova- tive solutions through education and research and provides value-added services to save counties and taxpayers money.
bridge upkeep and emergency medical services. Te authorization for PILT expired Sept. 30.
Draft ozone rule set for December release By Julie Ufner In early October, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) sent its draft rule on ozone to the White House for review. Te EPA is under a court-ordered deadline to re- lease the new rule by Dec. 1 and has already completed a scientific assessment. And it is anticipated that the agency will propose a tightening of current ozone standards. Te ozone standard was last set in 2008 at
75 parts per billion. Areas that do not meet the air pollution
standard are considered in “non-attainment.” Currently, more than 200 counties are in non-attainment under the ozone standard. Non-attainment areas must submit plans to the federal government on how they intend to reduce emissions.
Te plans usually include stricter emission
controls and counties in non-attainment areas have indicated challenges with attracting and maintaining businesses and industries that must also meet the standards. Between 2009–2011, the EPA floated a re-
vised, more restrictive ozone standard, which would have affected approximately 650 rural and urban counties, in addition to the hun- dreds of counties currently under non-attain- ment. It would have lowered the current 2008
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standard of 75 parts per billion to a revised range between 60–70 ppb. But in 2011, the White House scrapped the plans after the cost of implementation was estimated to range be- tween $19 billion and $90 billion. Te De- cember ozone proposal is anticipated to pro- pose an ozone decrease to below 70 ppb levels. Under the National Air Ambient Quality
Standards (NAAQS), a federal law governing air pollution, the agency is required to regu- late six principle pollutants: ozone, carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, particle pollution and sulfur dioxide. Under NAAQS, the current standard threshold for each pollut- ant must be reassessed every five years. Controlling ozone can be challenging. Ozone is not a directly emitted pollutant; it is formed when certain gases interact in sunlight, which is why it is generally known as a summer pollutant. Examples of sources that contribute to ozone formation include, but are not limited to vehicle emissions, industrial facilities, paints and sol- vents and dry cleaning. In recent years, ozone has been detected in more rural counties near oil and gas drilling operations in the winter. According to the American Lung Associa- tion, more than 119 million people live in areas considered in ozone non-attainment. Ozone, a key component of smog, is blamed for in- creased health care costs for bronchitis, acute asthma, hospital and emergency room visits, non-fatal heart attacks and premature deaths.
COUNTY LINES, FALL 2014
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