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1 (September 29, 2015)

handle is hein.crs/crsmthaafns0001 and id is 1 raw text is: CRS INSIGHT EPA's New Ozone Standards: A Few Thoughts September 29, 2015 (IN10365) James E. McCarthy, Specialist in Environmental Policy 0mccarihs@ b ov, 7-7225) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is under a court order to finalize its review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone by October 1, 2015. After several years of analysis, compiling information from more than 1,000 studies on health effects, exposure, and environmental impacts, EPA proposed more stringent standards last November. This began a public comment period, leading toward the final decision. The proposal brought forth a familiar set of arguments. On one side, public health advocates stated that the proposal, which would lower both the primary and secondary standard from 75 parts per billion (ppb) to somewhere in the range of 65 to 70 ppb, wasn't stng enough. On the other side, potentially affected industries argued that meeting standards in the range EPA proposed would devastaie theconomy. The Clean Air Act, as enacted in 1970, requires a public health focus in the setting of NAAQS. In authorizing EPA's action, it states that the EPA Administrator should set a primary standard at a level requisite to protect the public health with an adequate margin of safety. There is no mention of cost or technological considerations in the authorizing language. As a result, the Supreme Court held in a unanimous 2001 dec on that cost and technological feasibility are not to be considered by EPA when setting primary NAAQS standards. The agency and the states may consider cost, however, in determining how they will meet the standards. Setting the NAAQS is only the beginning of a long implementation process. States first identify what areas are in nonattainment of the NAAQS, using monitoring data for the most recent three years. EPA reviews the state submissions; negotiates with the states over data quality, the boundaries of the areas, and other factors; and eventually comes up with an official list of areas to be designated nonattainment. This designation process can take two years if all goes smoothly. Generally, all does not go smoothly. Following the last revision (in 2008), it took four years before areas were designated. After the previous (1997) revision, the process took seven years. Following designation, affected states and localities work with EPA to develop a state implementation plan for EPA approval. Many parts of the country have no ozone monitors: of the roughly 3,000 counties in the United States, only 26% have monitoring equipment. EPA generally terms counties without monitors unclassifiable and focuses on the areas that do have monitors. What areas will be in nonattainment under a new NAAQS? That won't be known, even when the final standards are promulgated. Whether an area is in attainment of the standards is determined by averaging monitoring data for the most recent three years at the time of designation. When the ozone rule was proposed in 2014, the most recent three years of data were for the years 2011-2013. If these data were used to designate nonattainment areas, 358 counties would have exceeded a 70 ppb standard, and 558 would exceed a 65 ppb NAAQS. But these aren't the data that will be used to make formal designations after the final standards are set. Most likely, designations will rely on 2014-2016 or later data.

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