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EPD says smog plan still up in air Rural officials remain worried they'll be hurt by state regulations to help Atlanta By
Christopher Schwarzen FORSYTH - State environmental officials tried to calm fears Thursday that rural counties are stuck in a metro-Atlanta smog-reduction plan. But county commissioners, chamber of commerce leaders and residents of the rural counties - including Monroe, Putnam, Jasper and Jones - weren't buying it. For more than two hours, state Environmental Protection Division staffers presented possible changes to a plan that is supposed to clean the air in Atlanta's 13-county region. What they said, however, didn't seem to matter to the more than 120 people present. "They're not listening to us," said Monroe County Commissioner Harold Carlisle. "I feel this is a done deal." The rural county leaders are afraid their inclusion in the Atlanta pollution-reduction plan will hurt their counties' economic development. The plan, covering a 45-county area around Atlanta, requires strict emission reductions for businesses thought to be contributing to Atlanta's smog. Even harsher control measures are proposed for new businesses. "They keep saying no decisions have been made," Carlisle said. "But then they keep talking about the wind blowing from here to Atlanta." The state Department of Natural Resources board, which oversees the EPD, approved the current plan in September but asked if the restrictions on the more-rural counties could be reduced. As a result, EPD officials were in Cartersville on Monday night and Forsyth on Thursday. Three more meetings are planned for Gainesville, Carrollton and Atlanta. "We want to be able to present a new draft at the Dec. 1 meeting," Ron Methier, the EPD's air-protection branch chief, said. "Then we'll start again with the public process. This has a long way to go before it's finished." Eventually, a plan will be sent to the federal Environmental Protection Agency for approval, and, officials hope, it will begin to shrink Atlanta's growing pollution problem. Jimmy Johnston, EPD program manager of stationary-source permitting, said anything is possible when the final plan is sent to the DNR board. "We're going to look within the 13-county (Atlanta) region, which is already heavily regulated," he said. "Then we're also going to address concerns in the rural counties. We could remove those counties." But Roddie Anne Blackwell, Eatonton-Putnam County Chamber of Commerce president, said she doesn't think that will happen. Instead, she will meet today with officials from eight counties to consider taking legal action against the plan. An attorney from Atlanta is interested in representing the group if it decides to go to court, she said. Monroe County officials in September sought an injunction against their county's inclusion in the plan. "I don't hear anything new being said, and I've been to all the meetings," Blackwell said. "We'll meet today and see what we should do."
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