^®: CRE Regulatory Action of the Week

EPA Proposes New Ozone NAAQS
On January 19, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed new primary and secondary national ambient air quality standards for ozone. EPA's Federal Register notice stated that the proposals are based on EPA's reconsideration of the ozone NAAQS set by the Bush Administration in March 2008. According to EPA, the 2008 Primary ozone NAAQS aren't sufficiently protective of children, and the 2008 secondary ozone NAAQS don't sufficiently protect "vegetation and forested ecosystems":

"EPA proposes to set different primary and secondary standards than those set in 2008 to provide requisite protection of public health and welfare, respectively. With regard to the primary standard for O3 [ozone], EPA proposes that the level of the 8-hour primary standard, which was set at 0.075 ppm in the 2008 final rule, should instead be set at a lower level within the range of 0.060 to 0.070 parts per million (ppm), to provide increased protection for children and other `at risk'' populations against an array of [ozone] O3-related adverse health effects.... With regard to the secondary standard for [ozone] O3, EPA proposes that the secondary [ozone] O3 standard, which was set identical to the revised primary standard in the 2008 final rule, should instead be a new cumulative, seasonal standard expressed as an annual index of the sum of weighted hourly concentrations, cumulated over 12 hours per day (8 am to 8 pm) during the consecutive 3-month period within the [ozone] O3 season with the maximum index value, set at a level within the range of 7 to 15 ppm- hours, to provide increased protection against [ozone] O3-related adverse impacts on vegetation and forested ecosystems."