^®: CRE Regulatory Action of the Week

EPA Seeks Comment on Joint NOX and SOX Review
On September 21, 2010, the United States Environmental Protection Agency published Federal Register notice seeking public comment on EPA's draft Policy Assessment for the Review of the Secondary National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Oxides of Nitrogen and Oxides of Sulfur: Second External Review Draft. EPA released this preliminary draft document to seek early consultation with the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and to solicit public comment on the overall structure, framing of key issues, and conclusions regarding options for key elements of the standards.

Comments should be submitted to EPA on or before November 12, 2010.

EPA is currently conducting a joint review of the existing secondary (welfare-based) NAAQS for NOX and SOX. Because NOX, SOX, and their associated transformation products are linked from an atmospheric chemistry perspective as well as from an environmental effects perspective, and because of the National Research Council's 2004 recommendations to consider multiple pollutants in forming the scientific basis for the NAAQS, EPA has decided to jointly assess the science, risks, and policies relevant to protecting the public welfare associated with NOX and SOX.

This is the first time since NAAQS were established in 1971 that a joint review of these two pollutants has been conducted.