EPA air line doesn't fly, scholar contends.

• Position: ECONOMIC OUTLOOK - Environmental Protection Agency, Joel Schwartz - Interview

Most of the state doesn't meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new ozone standard, and the American Lung Association flunked 27 of 34 North Carolina counties included in its 2003 State of the Air report. These evaluations are misleading, says Joel Schwartz, who contends that air-quality control is dominated by process and too focused on expensive, ineffective remedies. Schwartz is a visiting scholar with the Washington, D.C.-based American Enterprise Institute and is affiliated with the Raleigh-based John Locke Foundation.

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BNC: What is the new standard?

Schwartz: The eight-hour ozone standard measures the highest average level of ozone over eight hours every day during ozone season. It's more stringent simply because it's set at a lower level. The new eight-hour standard is the only real challenge left for the state in terms of air pollution. Only 18 of the 47 monitoring sites in North Carolina comply with the standard. It focuses on the finest particulate. The EPA homes in on finer particles based on epidemiological evidence that finer particles are the most harmful.

Were we in line with the old standard?

Ninety-four percent of North Carolina's ozone monitoring sites already complied, compared with 90% of sites nationwide. All of the violating sites were in Charlotte. The cleanest site averaged 1.3 days in violation per year from 2001 to 2003. The worst site had eight days over three years, or 2.7 days per year.

Why is the new level so tough to meet?

Because the ozone levels already are relatively low, so each increment of improvement is more difficult to achieve. Many sites need to reduce the nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds by 70% to 90% below current levels just to get a 5% to 10% reduction in peak ozone levels.

You mean the air quality here is fine?

Things are a lot better than you've been told.

Then why did so many counties flunk?

If a county has four monitoring sites and ozone exceeds the eight-hour standard one day in one part of the county and it exceeds the standard in another part of the county on the next day, the ALA will count two days of ozone violations for the entire county. And they use a tougher grading standard than the EPA. You can get an "F" even if you comply with the eight-hour standard. In its 2003 State of the Air report, 18 monitoring sites comply with the 8-hour standard, and 12 of those sites got an "F."

What are we doing wrong?

We're not doing things that would be...