A final EPA Staff Paper on the review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone air pollution concludes that the current standard is not protective of public health and must be strengthened.  (more…)

An EPA scientific advisory panel has unanimously recommended that the United States adopt much stronger air quality standards for ozone smog.  The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) concluded that the standard “needs to be substantially reduced: and that there is “no scientific justification” for retaining the current standard.  The standards — which establish safe levels of pollution in the air — are undergoing review by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  (more…)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded a nine-year review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM) on September 20, 2006 by ratifying the pre-existing annual average standard for fine particles and somewhat lowering the 24-hour average standard.  (more…)

The seven permanent members of EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) sent EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson a letter dated September 29, 2006, officially condemning Johnson’s final decisions concerning the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter. (more…)

The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) has agreed that the the current air quality standard for ozone cannot be considered protective of public health and that EPA must lower the standard considerably to reflect studies show effects at and below the level of the current standard. (more…)

EPA’s second draft Staff Paper on the review of the ozone air quality standard recommends that the current standard be retained or slightly strengthened.
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EPA has published a provisional assessment of recent studies on the health effects of particulate matter exposure. The assessment finds that new studies of fine and coarse particles document adverse effects at lower concentrations than the studies reviewed in the 2004 Criteria Document.
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EPA published the final ozone Air Quality Criteria Document laying out the latest scientific evidence of the adverse health effects of ozone on March 21, 2006.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s science advisors have officially asked EPA Administrator Steve Johnson to reconsider the agency’s proposed national air quality standards for particle soot.
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EPA’s science advisors, meeting in a teleconference on February 3, 2006, agreed to send a letter to EPA Administrator Steven Johnson urging that several aspects of the proposed air quality standards for particulate matter be be strengthened to conform with their prior recommendations.
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