Federal Ambient Air Quality Standard

A critical question concerning atmospheric concentrations of ozone and other photochemical oxidants is What fraction of the observed values in each locale can be controlled by reduction of emissions Some contend that natural background concentrations exceed the federal ambient air quality standard (0.08 ppm). Another point of view is that background ozone concentrations rarely exceed about 0.05-0.06 ppm at the surface and that higher concentrations are caused by man-made sources. 

In the 1970s. Portland experienced persistent violations of the Federal Ambient Air Quality Standard for particulate matter. The principal sources of the ambient aerosol were uncertain the importance of industrial sources was especially controversial. The existing emission... 

Areas where the Federal Ambient Air Quality Standards are being met are designated attainment and are subject to Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) requirements and are required to identify those areas that are attaining or not attaining the standards. 

California Air Resources Board Ambient Air Quality Standards http //www.arb.ca.gov/ research/aaqs/aaqs.htm (accessed October 13,2010). Both the Air Resources Board (ARB) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) are authorized to set ambient air quality standards. This Web site includes both California and U.S. federal ambient air quality standards. 

Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) Of aU the federal laws placing environmental controls on industiy (and, in particular, on new plants), perhaps the most confusing and restrictive are the limits imposed for the prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) of air quahty. These limits apply to areas of the countiy that are already cleaner than required by ambient air-quality standards. This regula-toiy framework evolved from judicial and administrative ac tion under the 1970 Clean Air Act and subsequently was given full statutoiy foundation by the 1977 Clean Air Act Amendments. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has established National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for protection of human health and welfare. These standards are defined in terms of concentration and hme span for a specific pollutant for example, the NAAQS for carbon monoxide is 9 ppmV for 8 hr, not to be exceeded more than once per year. For a state or local government to establish compliance with a National Ambient Air Quality Standard, measurements of the actual air quality must be made. To obtain these measurements, state and local governments have established stationary monitoring networks with instrumentation complying with federal specifications, as discussed in Chapter 14. The results of these measurements determine whether a given location is violating the air quality standard. 

U.S. Federal Primary and Secondary Ambient Air Quality Standards... 

Some variants of best practicable means are spelled out in the U.S. Clean Air Act of 1977. One is the requirement that best available control technology (BACT) for a specific pollutant be employed on new "major sources" that are to be located in an area that has attained the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for that pollutant. BACT is also required for pollutants for which there is no NAAQS [e.g., total reduced sulfur (TRS), for which emission limits are specified by a Federal New Source Performance Standard (NSPS)]. BACT must be at least as stringent as NSPS but is determined on a case-by-case basis. 

The Clean Air Act is the comprehensive Federal law that regulates air en stationary, and mobile sources. This law authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to protect public health and the environment. The goal of the Act was to set and achieve NAAQS in every state by 1975. This ng of maximum pollutant standards was coupled with directing the states to develop state... 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Part 410—National primary and secondary ambient air quality standards. Federal Roister 36 8186-8201, 1971. 

The federal primary ambient air quality standard for photochemical... 

TABLE 2.6 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) Set by the United States Federal Government"... 

As a result of atmospheric pollution levels that exceed the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in many parts of the United States, both the federal government and the State of California have implemented standards for exhaust and evaporative emissions from new vehicles (see Exhaust control, AUTOMOTIVE). The first of these standards went into effect in 1968 and mandated that the vapors from the vehicle crankcase be routed back through the engine and burned. Since then, the standards have continued to grow stricter. Table 7 shows the federal exhaust emission standards and Table 8 shows the more stringent California standards. California has mandated that starting in 1998 a certain percentage of new vehicles sales must be zero emissions vehicles (ZEV). 

There has been much difference of opinion regarding appropriate methods and criteria for remedy selection. Annex XIII of the May 8, 1981 staff draft of the NCP called for clean-up to the level of Federal and State water quality standards, Federal water quality criteria, Federal drinking water standards, and national ambient air quality standards regardless of whether there was any substantial exposure or risk from the release to be remedied. The cost effectiveness requirement was applied only by calling for cost effective methods of reaching the standards imposed. 

Industry criticized this approach on a number of grounds (6). Water quality criteria and national ambient air quality standards were never designed nor can they be sensibly used to set standards for individual releases. Water quality standards and Federal drinking water standards, although more appropriate for surface water or at-the-tap consideration, have been set for very few of the hazardous compounds which may be encountered at an old dump-site. 

As a basis for all efforts of air pollution control, the California Air Resources Board, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency of the federal government, has adopted ambient air quality standards based on health and aesthetic considerations. These standards have been derived from observing living organisms in the laboratory as well as in the community. These studies were compiled in the criteria documents of state and federal control agencies 11). 

California ambient air standards" U.S. federal secondary air quality standards ... 

The two-stage module of the PUF sampler enables determination of suspended particulate matter concentrations by pre- and post-weighing of the four inch glass-fiber filter. Because relative differences in suspended particulate matter are of concern, this evaluation can be performed immediately upon the collection of the samples and can be used to aid site personnel in the assessment of dust suppression techniques and evaluation of meteorological conditions. This technique for the determination of suspended particulate matter concentrations should not be directly compared to national ambient air-quality standard for Total Suspended Particulate (TGP) because the filter size, sample flow rate, and sample volume do not conform to the sampling procedures outlined in the Code of Federal Regulation 0, Part 50.11, Appendix 3 for TSP sampling, however, it does provide accurate re-sult s. ... 

A more effective approach to clean air policy, and one example of a sensible program being implemented by the federal government, is the Clean Air Interstate Rule or CAIR, intended to reduce emissions of particulate matter and NO in the eastern United States. EPA finalized the CAIR rules on March 10, 2005 in response to a finding of non-attainment of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter and ozone formation. CAIR requires reductions in SOj and NOj emissions from coal-fired power plants the emissions limits spelled out in the CAIR plan affect electric utilities in 28 eastern states and the District of Columbia. Emissions reductions are to be achieved through a market-based cap-and-trade system similar to other air pollution programs EPA has put into practice over the last few decades. 

The basis of air emission regulations in the U.S. is the Clean Air Act of 1970 and its subsequent amendments. Water emission regulations are similarly based on the Clean Water Act of 1972 and its amendments. The plastics industry is also impacted by state regulations issued in order to attain the ambient air quality standards imposed by federal requirements. California is a prime example, having emission regulations that are significantly more stringent than those in most other parts of the U.S. 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, November 24, 1987, Approval of Post-1987 Ozone and Carbon Monoxide Plan Revisions for Areas Not Attaining the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, (52 Federal Register 45044). 

State Implementation Plans (SIPs) are federally approved plans developed by state (or local) air quality management authorities to attain and maintain the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Generally, these SIPs are a state s (local) air quality rules and regulations that are considered an acceptable control strategy once approved by the USEPA. The purpose of SIPs is to control the amoimt and types of pollution for any given area or region of the United States. 

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