National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) March 18, 2014 Beth M. Hassett-Sipple US EPA/Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards Health and Environmental Impacts Division/Ambient Standards Group 1
Statutory requirements Current standards NAAQS review process Overview Key products Opportunities for public participation Additional information 2
Statutory Requirements (1) Clean Air Act Section 108 directs the EPA Administrator to: Identify and list air pollutants that in his (her) judgment, may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health and welfare and whose presence in the ambient air results from numerous or diverse mobile or stationary sources Issue air quality criteria to accurately reflect the latest scientific knowledge useful in indicating the kind and extent of identifiable effects on public health or welfare which may be expected from the presence of [a] pollutant in ambient air 3
Statutory Requirements (2) Clean Air Act Section 109 directs the EPA Administrator to: Propose and promulgate standards for pollutants listed under Section 108 Primary (health-based) Secondary (welfare-based) Periodically review (5-year intervals) the science upon which the standards are based and the standards themselves If appropriate, revise NAAQS 4
Statutory Requirements (3) Clean Air Act Section 109 also directs the EPA Administrator to: Establish independent scientific advisory committee to: Review air quality criteria Recommend to the Administrator any new standards and revision of existing criteria and standards, as may be appropriate For decades, this function has been performed by the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) - http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabpeople.nsf/webcommittees/casac 5
Statutory Requirements (4) Primary (health-based) standards... in the judgment of the Administrator are requisite to protect public health with an adequate margin of safety Requisite means sufficient but not more than necessary Adequate margin of safety intended to address uncertainties associated with inconclusive evidence, and to provide a reasonable degree of protection against hazards that research has not yet identified Includes consideration of potential impacts in at-risk populations or lifestages (e.g., persons with pre-existing diseases, children, older adults) 6
Statutory Requirements (5) Secondary (welfare-based) standards... in the judgment of the Administrator are requisite to protect the public welfare from any known or anticipated adverse effects Welfare effects include... effects on soils, water, crops, vegetation, man-made materials, animals, wildlife, weather, visibility and climate... 7
In setting NAAQS: Statutory Requirements (6) EPA is required to engage in reasoned decision making to translate scientific evidence into standards In so doing, EPA may not consider cost in setting standards (this has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court) Rather, cost can be - and is - considered in developing control strategies to meet the standards (implementation phase) 8
Basic Elements of NAAQS Indicator identifies the chemical species or mixture that is to measured in ambient air EPA has set NAAQS for six common air pollutants: carbon monoxide (CO), lead (Pb), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), ozone (O 3 ), particulate matter (PM 2.5 and PM 10 ), and sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) Averaging time defines time period over which ambient measurements are averaged (e.g., 1-hour, 8-hour, 24-hour, annual) Form defines the air quality statistic that is to be compared to standard level in determining whether an area attains the standard (e.g., annual mean; one-expected exceedance; 98 th or 99 th percentile) Level designated in terms of micrograms per cubic meter of air (µg/m 3 ), parts per million (ppm), or parts per billion (ppb) The relative protection afforded by a standard or suite of standards is a function of all four elements 9
Current National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) as of March 2014 Pollutant CO Lead NO 2 O 3 PM 2.5 PM 10 SO 2 Primary/ Secondary primary primary and secondary primary and secondary Averaging Time Level Form 8-hour 1-hour Rolling 3 month average 9 ppm 35 ppm Not to be exceeded more than once per year 0.15 μg/m 3 Not to be exceeded Annual 53 ppb Annual mean primary 1-hour 100 ppb primary and secondary 8-hour 0.075 ppm primary 12.0 μg/m 3 Annual secondary 15.0 μg/m 3 primary and secondary primary and secondary 98 th percentile of 1-hour daily maximum concentrations, averaged over 3 years Annual fourth-highest daily maximum 8-hr concentration, averaged over 3 years annual mean, averaged over 3 years 24-hour 35 μg/m 3 98 th percentile, averaged over 3 years 24-hour 150 μg/m 3 primary 1-hour 75 ppb Not to be exceeded more than once per year on average over 3 years 99 th percentile of 1-hour daily maximum concentrations, averaged over 3 years secondary 3-hour 0.5 ppm Not to be exceeded more than once per year Primary (health-based) and secondary (welfare-based) standards. Units of measure are parts per million (ppm), parts per billion (ppb) or micrograms per cubic meter of air (μg/m 3 ). For more information about the standards, visit http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/.
NAAQS Review Process Workshop on science-policy issues Integrated Review Plan (IRP): timeline and key policy-relevant issues and scientific questions Peer-reviewed scientific studies Integrated Science Assessment (ISA): evaluation and synthesis of most policy-relevant studies Risk/Exposure Assessment (REA): quantitative assessment, as warranted, focused on key results, observations, and uncertainties Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) review Public comment Policy Assessment (PA): staff analysis of policy options based on integration and interpretation of information in the ISA and REA EPA proposed decisions on standards Interagency review Agency decision making and draft proposal notice Public hearings and comments on proposal Agency decision making and draft final notice Interagency review EPA final decisions on standards 11
Planning (1) Kickoff workshop to inform Integrated Review Plan (IRP) Receive early input from scientific community and general public Discuss key policy-relevant issues around which we would structure the review Discuss most meaningful new science available to inform our understanding of key policy-relevant issues Public participation: Workshop is open to any interested participants 12
Planning (2) Prepare Integrated Review Plan (IRP) to guide entire review Specifies schedule for review Outlines process for conducting review and planned scope of assessment documents Discusses decisions made in previous review, including rationales for those decisions Includes background on key scientific issues and uncertainties from previous review Highlights key policy-relevant science issues that will guide review Public review process: CASAC and public review of draft IRP 13
Integrated Science Assessment (ISA) Concisely evaluate and synthesize most policy-relevant science Epidemiological, controlled human exposure, and toxicological studies Characterize strengths and uncertainties of available scientific evidence Serve as scientific foundation to inform: Consideration of, and as warranted, design and development of, Risk/Exposure Assessment (REA) Policy Assessment (PA) and Agency decisions Public review process: CASAC/public review of multiple ISA drafts Health and Environmental Research Online (HERO) data base An EVERGREEN data base containing scientific references that inform development of ISAs and other EPA science assessments 14
Risk/Exposure Assessment (REA) Planning document: considers newly available information, its support for new or substantially revised REA(s), and, as appropriate, generally describes analysis plans Outline general plan, including scope and methods, for conducting quantitative assessments, to extent new analyses are warranted REA document: describes assessment performed Estimate potential magnitude of exposures/risks for public health/welfare Present concisely key results, observations, and uncertainties Characterize nature, magnitude, and uncertainties of exposure/dose/risk for selected endpoint(s) under specified air quality conditions Along with ISA, REA informs Policy Assessment Public review process: CASAC consultation/public review of REA planning document CASAC/public review of one or more drafts 15
Policy Assessment (PA) (1) Integrates and interprets information from ISA and REA (if available) to frame policy options for consideration by EPA Administrator Helps to bridge the gap between scientific assessments, presented in the ISA and REA, and judgments required of the Administrator in determining whether it is appropriate to retain or revise the standard(s) Review of draft PA facilitates CASAC s advice to EPA, including its recommendations to EPA Administrator on any new standards or revisions to existing standards that may be appropriate to consider 16
Policy Assessment (PA) (2) Present staff conclusions on the range of policy options supported by the currently available information Discuss staff conclusions regarding adequacy of current standard(s) and possible alternative standards appropriate to consider Describe underlying interpretation of scientific evidence, risk/exposure assessment, and air quality analyses that might support each option Public review process: CASAC and public review of one or more drafts 17
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Rulemaking (1) Propose decisions based on consideration of staff conclusions in PA and CASAC advice/recommendations Solicit public comment on proposed elements of NAAQS and alternatives, as appropriate Public review process: Public comment period, including public hearing(s), follows publication of proposed rule 18
Final Rulemaking Notice Rulemaking (2) Final decisions take into account public comments on proposed rule Response-to-Comments document prepared/finalized in parallel with final rule Responds to all significant comments received on proposed rule NAAQS rulemaking may be accompanied by or combined with rulemaking changes to monitoring, Air Quality Index (AQI), and/or implementation regulations 19
Additional Information General information and documents from current and previous NAAQS reviews: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/ Health and Environmental Research Online (HERO) data base: http://hero.epa.gov/ All public meetings, draft documents available for public review, final documents, and rulemaking notices are announced in the Federal Register: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectioncode=fr Sign up to receive daily Federal Register Table of Contents by e-mail General contact: Beth Hassett-Sipple, US EPA, OAQPS/HEID/ASG hassett-sipple.beth@epa.gov (919) 541-4605 20
More information regarding on-line resources 21
NAAQS TTN Webpages: General Set-Up Basic Information (links to Fact Sheets under Regulatory Actions ) Contact Information: Name, email address, and phone number Documents from Current Review Planning Documents Integrated Science Assessments Risk and Exposure Assessments Policy Assessments Other Technical Documents CASAC Documents Federal Register Notices Response to Comments Document Regulatory Impact Analysis Litigation Documents from Review Completed in xxxx Air Quality Index Table of Current NAAQS Table of Historical NAAQS 22
23 HERO Webpage