EPA sends ozone standards to White House

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday sent its proposal for revising federal air quality standards for ozone to the White House for review.

Such reviews, led by the Office of Management and Budget, can last for a few days to several months. But EPA is under court order to propose a new ozone standard by December, more than six years after it finalized the current standards of 75 parts per billion. The Clean Air Act requires EPA to review and, if necessary, revise federal air quality standards once every five years.

EPA staff has recommended lowering the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone to the range of 60 to 70 parts per billion. That is in line with the recommendation made in June by an EPA panel of scientific advisors earlier this summer.

A lower limit on ozone could lead to more stringent emissions caps through Clean Air Act programs, such as a successor to the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which was designed in part to help eastern states meet the 1997 ozone standard of 80ppb.

The Clean Air Act requires EPA to set primary NAAQS for criteria pollutants such as ozone at levels that are needed to protect public health and provide "an adequate margin of safety," as well as a secondary standard for public welfare protection, such as protecting crops, animals and visibility. The current primary and secondary standards for ozone are 75ppb. After it sets the standards, EPA designates which areas are out of attainment, and states must draft plans detailing the measures they will use to bring those areas in line with the standards.

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