Air Quality Standards

Ensure air quality standards are based on the best publicly available scientific and risk assessed information.

 

In order to protect the health and well-being of Americans, air quality standards must use the best publicly available scientific information to accurately assess the impact of the standards on affected communities and businesses. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state and local governments share the responsibility for regulating air quality under a complex statutory scheme in the Clean Air Act (CAA). The CAA imposes emissions limitations using National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Under the CAA, EPA has developed NAAQS for six criteria pollutants: sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, lead, particulate matter, ozone, and nitrogen dioxide. Using a State Implementation Plan (SIP), the NAAQS are applied to individual facilities by state and local governments.

 

Each SIP takes into account unique local conditions as part of its overall plan for meeting the NAAQS, including current and projected economic and population growth, traffic patterns, the types of local industries, and the effect of transported pollutants. Accordingly, implementation of NAAQS has a profound impact on the economies of localities across the nation. Failure to attain NAAQS results in severe penalties for state and local communities, including the loss of federal highway funding, restrictions on the issuance of new industrial permits, and other limitations on economic growth. 

 

Due to the significant impacts that can result from NAAQS implementation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce believes that revisions to NAAQS should be based upon the best scientific and risk assessed information available, and should consider human health, economic impacts, and the future effects of air quality initiatives currently in place. If NAAQS are revised, their implementation should be timed to cause minimal economic harm and to take full advantage of all current efforts to improve air quality. Finally, the U.S. Chamber feels market-based models that can be used to significantly and cost effectively reduce large percentages of pollutants are the most useful regulatory schemes.

 

Environment, Technology & Regulatory Affairs Division

(202) 463-5533
environment@uschamber.com