INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Almost all of Indiana now meets federal smog standards now that nine central Indiana counties are cleaner, but the compliance might not last beyond stricter new rules due next year.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regional officials announced Thursday that Indianapolis and Marion County, as well as eight surrounding counties, had become the latest areas in the state to meet federal standards for ground-level ozone, also known as smog.

The redesignation — the latest in a series this year affecting various parts of the state — not only confirms that the air is cleaner but also means new industry to the area will have an easier task of meeting air pollution rules.

“After years of good effort, the air is measurably cleaner and the path of future jobs and economic growth is easier and more straightforward,” Gov. Mitch Daniels said in a statement issued by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

Smog is formed from car exhaust, industrial emissions and gasoline vapors that are aggravated by summertime sun and heat. It’s blamed for health risks in children, seniors, and those suffering from asthma and other lung ailments.

Earlier this year the EPA agreed with the state that Allen, Clark, Elkhart, Floyd, LaPorte and St. Joseph counties also had met smog standards.

The latest redesignation leaves only northwest Indiana’s adjacent Lake and Porter counties and a portion of Dearborn County near Cincinnati as the only areas in Indiana with too much smog, IDEM spokeswoman Amy Hartsock said.

“I’m pleased that we’re making progress,” said Janet McCabe, who directs the Indianapolis-based advocacy group Improving Kids’ Environment. “Our job is not done.”

That’s because EPA in June recommended tougher new limits on smog that still are being reviewed. The new limits likely will take effect next year, said Ed Doty, an environmental scientist for EPA’s Chicago-based Region 5.

“We would expect some areas would go back into non-attainment,” Griffin said.

Indiana has had so many counties come into compliance this year because of a number of factors, including national controls on diesel fuel emissions, those from other motor vehicles, and pollution from power plants, Doty said.

Another reason, said Vince Griffin of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, is that many high-emission heavy industrial plants have closed, such as a Chrysler foundry in Indianapolis that shut its doors two years ago.

“The ozone juice in the industrial orange has been all but squeezed out,” said Griffin, the chamber’s vice president for energy and environmental policy.

However, under the stricter federal limits now under review, more than 50 of Indiana’s 92 counties might fall short of the new standards, the Chamber warned in a letter this week to EPA officials in Washington, D.C.

“The reality is that it’s going to be more restrictive. How restrictive, we don’t know,” Griffin said.

Posted 10/12/2007