National Ambient Air Quality

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. 

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. 

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. 

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

Title I Provisions for Attainment and Maintenance of National Ambient Air Quality Standards... 

These regulahons will apply to an estimated 34,000 "major" industrial sources. "Major" sources are defined according to their "potential to emit" and the cutoff levels vary depending on both the pollutant and the local areas compliance status with the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for that pollutant. For the present, the EPA has exempted all "nonmajor" sources, of which there are estimated to be about 350,000, from this permithng, unhl they have studied further the feasibility of permithng them. However, the states can require permitting of some of these sources. 

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. 

Attainment Area a geographic area in which levels of a criterion air pollutant meet the health-based National Ambient Air Quality Standard for that specific pollutant. 

Criteria Air Pollutant a group of very common air pollutants regulated by EPA on the basis of criteria, and for which a National Ambient Air Quality Standard is established (SOj, NOj, PM,q, Pb, CO, O3). 

Nonattainment Area An area designated by the EPA Administrator pursuant to Section 107(d) of the Clean Air Act as having air quality which does not meet one or more National Ambient Air (Quality Standards (NAAQS). For a list of nonattainment areas, see 40 CFR Part 81, Subpart C. 

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... 

National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) have been established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the following six criteria air pollutants ... 

The EPA sets two kinds of national ambient air quality standards. The primary standard is set at a level intended to protect human health with an adequate margin of safety. The secondary standard, usually less stringent, is set based on protecting the public welfare, which can include factors other than health impacts, such as reduced visibility, atid damage to crops. 

Table 3 shows the current health-related national ambient air quality standards set by the EPA as of 1999. Regions that violate these standards may be classified as nonattamment areas by the EPA, and can face sanctions if they do not promulgate pollution control plans that are acceptable to the agency. 

Since these PM standards were established, the EPA has reviewed peer-reviewed scientific studies that suggest that significant health effects occur at concentrations below the 1987 standards. In addition, some studies attributed adverse health effects to particles smaller than 10 microns. In July 1997, the EPA, under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), added standards for particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less (PM, ). The annual PM, 5 standard was set at 15 pg/ni and the 24-hour PMj standard was set at 65 p.g/m . 

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