National air quality standards

Evaluate the use, effectiveness, and equity of local, state, provincial, or national air quality standards in your community. 

The technol( for the routine measurement of the nitrogen oxides (nitrogen dioxide and nitric oxide) is fairly well advanced. The epa is on the verge of officially proposing that chemiluminescence produced by the reaction of nitric oxide with ozone be the reference method for nitrogen dioxide.This method is even more suitable for nitric oxide. Because no national air quality standard has been promulgated for nitric oxide, no reference method will be specified. However, its measurement in the atmosphere is crucial for establishing the relation of its emission to the formation of atmospheric ozone and other photochemical oxidants. 

Clean Air Act. The Clean Air Act is administered by the EPA. Although the principal enforcement provisions are the responsibility of local governments, overall administrative responsibility rests with EPA. This act requires criteria documents for air pollutants and sets both national air quality standards and standards for sources that create air pollutants, such as motor vehicles, power plants, and so on. Important actions already taken under this law include standards for the now complete phased-out elimination of lead in gasoline, and the setting of sulfuric acid air emission guidelines for existing industrial plants. 

The US Environmental Protection Agency s health-based national air quality standard for nitrogen dioxide is 0.053 ppm (measured as an annual arithmetic mean concentration). National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommended exposure limit is Ippm (1.8mgm ). 

National Air Quality Standards as presented in the code of Federal Regulations, 40, Protection of Environment, Part 50, Sec. 50.4 to 50.11, July 1, 1974, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1974. Primary Standard—necessary to protect the public health (Sec. 50.2). Secondary Standard—necessary to protect the public welfare and the environment from known or anticipated adverse effects of a pollutant (Sec. 50.2). 

CSA repeals or significantly weakens many provisions of existing law that have protected health and the environment since the enactment of the 1970, 1977, and 1990 Clean Air Act (CAA) amendments, including Interstate air pollution protections New Source Review requirements Air Toxics controls applicable to the electric power industry Provisions designed to bring air quality into attainment with national standards and to protect areas from air quality degradation The deadlines by which states must attain national air quality standards and Visibility protections for National Parks. ... 

The CAA establishes national primary and secondary air quality standards for sulfur oxides, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and lead. It also limits the emission of 189 listed hazardous waste pollutants such as vinyl chloride, arsenic, asbestos, and benzene (CAA, 1977). States are responsible for enforcement of the CAA. To assist in this effort. Air Quality Control Regions (AQCRs) were established. Allowable emission limits are determined by the AQCR or its subunit, the Air Quality Management District. These emission limits are based on whether or not the region is currently within attainment of National Air Quality Standards. 

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970, which followed the original Clean Air Act of 1967, set national air quality standards for six criteria air pollutants NOx, SOx, ozone, carbon monoxide (CO), particulates and lead. The result was the removal of lead from gasoline and the installation of emission control technologies, including baghouse filters for particulate control, wet and dry scrubbers for SOx control and automobile exhaust catalysts for controlling hydrocarbons (HC), CO and NOx. As a consequence, lead emissions have been dramatically reduced, SOx emissions are being controlled, and automobile CO, HC and NOx emissions have decreased by nearly a factor of 10 (over uncontrolled emissions). In spite of these dramatic improvements, in 1989 approximately 130 million people in the U.S. lived in 96 areas which did not meet air quality standards either in ozone, in carbon monoxide, or in both [2]. 

The Clean Air Act of 1970 and its 1990 amendments, formulated by the EPA, estabhshed national air-quality standards that regulate the amount of solvents emitted. The EPA divided the 50 states into 250 air-quality regions, each of which is responsible for the implementation of the national air-quality standards. It is important to recognize that many of the local standards are more stringent than the national. For this reason, specific coatings that comply with the air-quality standards of one district may not comply with another s. Waterborne, high-solids. 

EPA has determined that 39 states are meeting the health-based national air quality standards for lead set in 2008. Based on 2008 to 2010 air quality monitoring data, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan and Puerto Rico each have only one area that does not meet the agency s health-based standards for lead. 

National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Criteria Pollutants (NAAQS) http //www.epa. gov/air/criteria.httnl (accessed October 15, 2010). The Clean Air Act, which was last amended in 1990, requires EPA to set National Ambient Air Qnality Standards for pollutants considered harmful to public health and the environment. The Clean Air Act established two types of national air quality standards. Primary standards set limits to protect public health, including the health of sensitive populations, and Secondary standards set limits to protect public welfare, including protection against decreased visibility, damage to animals, crops, vegetation, and buildings. 

The National Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter [1,23] is currently legislated by the EPA PM 10 Standards in accordance with the requirements of the USA Clean Air Act (CAA). The PM 10 Rule is a nationally enforceable standard to maintain healthy and breathable air for every American community regardless of the dust generation source [21-23]. In 1997 the EPA proposed the PM2.5 provision [21,24], which applies to particles with equal to or less than 2.5 microns in diameter as a revision to the PMIO. It is not enforceable yet and EPA is proposing a time frame of 5-10 years for compliance. The PM2.5 was the response to the EPA findings related to the greatest health effects of small particles with diameter less than 2 microns. 

COLORANTS FORFOOD,DRUGS,COSTffiTICS AND TffiDICALDEVICES] (Vol 6) NAAQS. See National Ambient Air Quality Standard. 

Table 3. National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Criteria Pollutants ...

United States Congress, Public Eaw 101-549, MnMct toMmend the Clean Air Met to Provide for Attainment and Maintenance of Health Protective National Ambient Air Quality Standards, andfor Other Purposes, Nov. 15,1990. 

National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Under the Clean Air Act, six criterion pollutants, ie, pollutants of special concern, have been estabhshed by the EPA sulfur oxides (SO ), particulates, carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NO ), o2one (photochemical oxidants), and lead. National Ambient Air QuaUty Standards (NAAQS) were developed by EPA based on threshold levels of air pollution below which no adverse effects could be experienced on human health or the environment. 

TABLE 25-1 National Primary and Secondary Ambient Air Quality Standards... 

NR = No index values reported at concentration levels below those specified by "alert level" criteria (Table 5-1). Annual primary National Ambient Air Quality Standard. 

IDENTIFICATION AND QUANTIFICATION.—Such plan provisions shall expressly identify and quantify the emissions, if any, of any such pollutant or pollutants which will be allowed, from the construction and operation of major new or modified stationary sources in each such area. The plan shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Administrator that the emissions quantified for this purpose will be consistent with the achievement of reasonable further progress and will not interfere with the attainment of the applicable national ambient air quality standard by the applicable attainment date. 

Public Law 101-549, 101st Congress—November 15, 1990, An Act to Amend the Clean Air Act to provide for attainment and maintenance of health protective national ambient air quality standards, and for other purposes. 

Describe the rationale for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency s establishment of a standard reference method for measurement of National Ambient Air Quality Standard air pollutants. 

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. 

Annual United States National Primary Ambient Air Quality Standard promulgated in 1971 ... 

Sources Air Quality Criteria for Particulate Matter and Sulfur Oxides, final draft, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, December 1981 Review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Sulfur Oxides Assessment of Scientific and Technical Information, Draft OAQPS Staff Paper, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, April 1982. 

United States National Primary and Secondary Ambient Air Quality Standard, attained when the expected number of days per calendar year with maximum hourly average concentrations above 0.12 ppm is equal to or less than 1, as determined in a specified manner... 

Annual geometric mean United States Secondary National Ambient Air Quality Standard as of September, 1987... 

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