U.S. Rep. Bob Latta (R., Bowling Green) says he plans to take on President Obama’s proposal to reduce smog through tighter pollution controls on manufacturers.

Both the President’s recently finalized Clean Power Plan — which aims to cut carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases — and a plan for stronger ground-level ozone restrictions targeted by Mr. Latta put Ohio at the crossroads of national debates over air quality. Ohio is one of America’s most coal-dependent and top manufacturing states.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is required by the Clean Air Act to review ground-level ozone and five other major types of air pollution at least once every five years, to see if pollution-control technology is keeping pace with scientific advancements.

The federal agency is soon expected to announce plans for lowering the primary and secondary national eight-hour standards for ozone from current levels of 75 parts per billion down to 65 to 70 ppb. The EPA said last fall it also would take comments on a possible health standard as low as 60 ppb.

Mr. Latta said on Monday during a conference call that he and U.S. Rep. Pete Olson (R., Texas) have introduced legislation to block plans for a stronger ozone rule. The call included several lobbyists from large-manufacturing and small-business sectors.

Mr. Latta said a stronger rule potentially impacts the 60,000 people in his district who hold manufacturing jobs, many in this area. “The  EPA keeps coming out with new rules before getting the existing ones [fully] implemented,” he said. 

Mr. Latta said he fears the new EPA rules for ozone could put Ohio into nonattainment status, a view echoed by Eric Burkland, Ohio Manufacturers Association president.

“This is not the time to be doing something like this,” Mr. Latta said.

Ross Eisenberg, vice president of energy and resources policy for the Washington-based National Association of Manufacturers, said the new ozone standard “could be the most expensive [regulation] in history.”

Health and environmental officials cite the need for additional smog reductions, claiming the cost of achieving them will be far offset by savings to public health from fewer hospitalizations and other costs associated with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and other breathing ailments.

This spring, near 1,100 physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, and public health professionals nationwide sent EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy a letter that urged a drop to 60 ppb with the health standard, according to the American Lung Association.

“A standard of 60 ppb will offer the greatest protection for vulnerable populations and help us achieve the promise of the Clean Air Act,” said Harold Wimmer, the lung association’s national president and chief executive officer.

Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com, 419-724-6079, or via Twitter @ecowriterohio.

First Published August 25, 2015, 4:00 a.m.