DAYTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is toughening standards for fine particle pollution and soot as the head watchdog of air quality here is warning that the area threatens to violate current federal pollution rules.

The agency said it is proposing to strengthen the annual health standard for fine particles to within a range of 12 micrograms to 13 micrograms per cubic meter. The current annual standard is 15 micrograms per cubic meter.

The pollution targeted includes microscopic airborne particles that penetrate deep into the lungs and have been linked to a wide range of serious health effects — premature death, heart attacks and strokes, as well as acute bronchitis and aggravated childhood asthma, the EPA said.

The key to meeting the proposed standard and a separate ozone standard are national control measures for electric power plants and a pending low sulfur gasoline requirement, said John Paul, administrator of the Dayton-based Regional Air Pollution Control Agency. “If those measures are struck down by Congress or the courts, then we are in trouble,” said Paul, who oversees air quality for Montgomery, Miami, Greene, Clark, Darke and Preble counties.

“This proposal is right where we expected it to be,” Paul added. “EPA is proposing to set the standard somewhere between 12 and 13, and our monitors read levels in that range now.”

On Wednesday, Paul appeared at a public meeting and said the area has a history of not meeting standards for fine particulate matter and is “on the border” for meeting both particulate matter and ozone levels.

As if to emphasize Paul’s point, public health officials on Friday declared the fourth air pollution advisory of the year for today.

Cory Chadwick, director of the Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services, said the four counties in his region — Warren, Clermont, Hamilton and Butler — won’t be able to meet the new standard next year. The area is just under the current standard.

“There will be increased permitting requirements, but we’ll wait for the federal regulations to take effect,” he said.

The new standards could go into effect by year’s end. But counties have until 2017 to meet them, the federal agency said. EPA said because of current national regulatory measures, 99 percent of U.S. counties should fall into compliance without any added controls or actions — including all 88 Ohio counties. Counties that federal projections suggest won’t meet the standard by 2020 include two in southern California and four in Alabama.

Still, there’s wariness of the new array of rules. Stricter soot and particle pollution standards can make operating emission-generating businesses more challenging, Paul said.

Rick Little, president of Kettering contract manufacturer Starwin Industries, agreed. Little said no manufacturer wants to pollute, and everyone wants clean air to breathe. And while he doesn’t believe his relatively small shop will be on the wrong side of new standards, this will add another regulation to monitor. As he put it: “One more straw on the camel’s back.”

Steve Staub, of Vandalia’s Staub Manufacturing Solutions, said, “Every new regulation is one more thing helping stifle manufacturing and more business in our country.”

A federal court ordered the EPA to issue the new standards after the American Lung Association and the National Parks Conservation Association by Earthjustice took legal action.

“Particle pollution kills —the science is clear, and overwhelming evidence shows that particle pollution at levels currently labeled as officially ‘safe’ causes heart attacks, strokes and asthma attacks,” said Dr. Albert Rizzo, board chairman of the lung association.

The federal court ruling required EPA to update the standard based on “best available science,” the agency said.

Paul said the Dayton area exceeded federal ozone standards 11 days last year. Nevertheless, the Dayton region was designated in May by the U.S. EPA as being in compliance with federal ozone standards, Paul said. The designation is based on a three-year average of monitor readings. The years evaluated were 2008 through 2010, years the area met the standard.

The region was out of compliance in 2011, and that year will be included in the next evaluation. The soonest the area could be redesignated as out of compliance for ozone is mid-2013, Paul said. Being designated as out of compliance could pose additional costs on new businesses that want to locate here.

Paul added that Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati have been recently designated as not in compliance with ozone standards.

Paul said earlier this week that much of the pollution entering the Dayton area is produced by electricity-generating plants along the Ohio River.

DP&L said Friday it does “not anticipate a significant impact on our operations from this new standard.”

The EPA said that depending on the final level of the particulate standard, “estimated benefits will range from $88 million a year, with estimated costs of implementation as low as $2.9 million, to $5.9 billion in annual benefits with a cost of $69 million — a return ranging from $30 to $86 for every dollar invested in pollution control.”

The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to review its standards for particle pollution every five years to determine whether standards need revision. The law requires the agency to ensure the standards “protect public health with an adequate margin of safety.”

The EPA will accept public comment for 63 days after the proposed standards are published in the Federal Register. The agency said it will hold two public hearings; one in Sacramento, Calif., and one in Philadelphia, Pa. 

The EPA will issue the final standards by Dec. 14.