Stricter soot or particle pollution standards to be announced today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may be based on science, but they will make manufacturing in Ohio and beyond more challenging, said the man leading the local agency charged with enforcing federal and state air pollution rules.

“It does,” said John Paul, administrator of the Dayton-based Regional Air Pollution Control Agency, which enforces standards in six area counties. “And it does because the standards keep getting lower.”

The EPA is expected to tighten soot pollution standards to between 12 and 13 micrograms per cubic meter of air from 15 micrograms, according to a report from the Reuters news service. How this affects the Dayton area depends on the final levels, Paul said.

“If it’s 13, we’re OK,” Paul said Friday. “If it’s 12, then we’re in the same position as ozone (pollution levels) — we’re slightly above it.”

Steve Staub, of Vandalia’s Staub Manufacturing Solutions, said manufacturers tend to be wary of new federal regulations.

“Every new regulation is one more thing helping stifle manufacturing and more business in our country,” Staub said.

According to an unnamed source who spoke with the Associated Press, nearly all counties in the U.S. would meet the proposed standard with no additional actions needed, beyond compliance with EPA rules.

Paul this week oversaw a public meeting with the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission in which he expressed concern about regional ozone and fine particulate matter pollution levels.

The area exceeded federal ozone standards 11 days last year, and today, an air pollution advisory has been issued for Montgomery, Greene, Clark and Miami counties. The local air quality index is anticipated at 101, which is considered “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” which includes people with lung-function challenges and older people, according to the regional planning commission.

Nevertheless, the Dayton region was designated recently by the U.S. EPA as in compliance with federal ozone standards, Paul said. The designation is based on a three-year average of monitor readings. The years evaluated included 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 out of compliance for ozone by the federal agency is mid-2013, Paul said. Paul added that Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati have been recently designated as not in compliance with ozone standards.

“It’s not a game-changer, but it’s right there with ozone,” Paul said of soot standards. “We’re looking at the same sources.”

Those sources include automobiles, lawnmowers, coal-fired industrial boilers and more.

The federal Clean Air Science Advisory Committee — which advises the federal government on proposed air pollution standards — had been sued by the American Lung Association, and in the settlement of that suit, the committee agreed to revisit soot standards, Paul said.

Staff Writer Steve Bennish contributed to this report.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.