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EPA Publishes Revised Air Quality Standard in the Federal Register [US]

On October 26th, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its revised national ambient air quality standard for ground-level ozone in the Federal Register. The new standard lowers the permissible threshold for ozone from 75 parts per billion (ppb) to 70 ppb.

Criticism

The rule has already been criticized by industry groups and some states as being overly stringent, while some environmental conservation groups argue that a threshold of 70 ppb is still too high to adequately protect human health and the environment from the effects of ozone, a component of smog.

In response to final publication of the new rule, five states (Arizona, Arkansas, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Oklahoma) promptly filed suit on October 27th, 2015 against the EPA, asserting that the new rule would force high compliance costs on the states’ resources.

The new national ambient air quality standard for ozone will become effective on December 28th, 2015.

Red-on-line EHS Legalist

Sources:

National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone, Federal Register, 80 FR 65291, October 26th, 2015.

Sharon Montazeri, U.S. EPA Finalizes Lower Ozone Standard of 70 ppb, Red-on-line USA, October 2nd, 2015.

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