The Energy Institute’s Grinding to a Halt series explains how Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to tighten ozone standards could impact critical transportation projects nationwide. In the Dallas-Fort Worth region, state and local governments are working to address stifling traffic congestion through plans that include $40 billion for construction and expansion of freeways to accommodate additional vehicle capacity and population growth. But many projects that are part of those plans—such as the I-820 Loop Southeast Reconstruction project between Fort Worth and Arlington—could be threatened by EPA’s recently tightened standard.

“At 81 parts per billion (ppb), the current level of ozone in the Dallas Fort-Worth region far exceeds the Obama administration’s new one size fits all standard of 70 ppb, which will have major implications for DFW,” said Dan Byers, senior director of Policy at the Energy Institute. “Local officials in the Dallas-Fort Worth region have done an excellent job improving air quality during a time of rapid population and economic growth, but EPA’s new rule moves the goalposts on these successful efforts, and will threaten badly needed transportation projects that address congestion.”

See more at: http://www.energyxxi.org/us-chamber-analysis-epa-ozone-regulations-could-threaten-dallas-fort-worth-area-transportation