ACOG releases study on impact of violating federal air quality standards

The Association of Central Oklahoma Governments (ACOG) recently released a study that showed the Oklahoma City area is in danger of violating federal ozone standards, which could ultimately cost the city anywhere between $9.6 billion to $15.2 billion over a 20-30-year period.

In their Cost of Nonattainment Study (CNA), which was funded through grants from the Federal Transit Administration with contributions from multiple stakeholders, including the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber and City of Oklahoma City, ACOG researchers found that despite economic successes in recent years, the Oklahoma City metro has inched closer and closer to nonattainment of EPA air quality standards.

“The Chamber appreciates the opportunity to provide staff support to ACOG on their proactive, detailed study of how the Central Oklahoma Region can strategically avoid being designated in nonattainment of Federal air quality standards. As an economic development organization, we fully understand the high costs and regulatory burdens associated with falling on the wrong side of these standards and believe our area is better prepared than it was thanks to this important study,” said Derek Sparks, the Chamber’s senior manager of government relations.

According to ACOG, the organization launched the CNA study to “help local stakeholders better understand the multiple transportation and economic risks, along with the corresponding potential benefits of taking proactive steps or actions.” The study is particularly poignant since the Clean Air Act requires that the EPA designate areas as nonattainment if they are violating federal ozone standards. The eight-county Oklahoma City-Shawnee Combined Statistical Area Ozone concentrations have reached maximum allowable levels in recent years. Despite those shortcomings, Oklahoma City is one of the largest metropolitan areas still meeting EPA air quality standards, said ACOG Executive Director Mark W. Sweeney.

“With this study, our goal has been to utilize our resources as a regional planning organization to be innovative, forward-thinking and to prepare the area for all possible scenarios,” Sweeney said.

Three distinct sections comprise the CNA. Section one deals with the economic and opportunity costs to the Oklahoma City area from a nonattainment status over a 28-year period from 2022 to 2050. Section two examines the impacts a nonattainment designation may have on the transportation planning process, especially considering the requirements mandated by the Clean Air Act. Nonattainment would significantly hinder ACOG’s and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s ability to conduct and implement efficient planning for the whole region, potentially costing ACOG and ODOT upwards of $145 million between 2023 and 2050, not to mention project delays.

Section three of the CNA study focuses on the Federal Highway Administration’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funding. A nonattainment designation for Central Oklahoma will mean more federal dollars distributed to ACOG by ODOT for future planning; however, challenges will exist in the form of higher local matches for projects and if there are enough projects to support the funding increase.

To read the entire CNA study for the Oklahoma City area, please visit ACOG’s website at acogok.org.

This article originally appeared in the July 2022 edition of the VeloCity newsletter.