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Air Quality
Our nation's Clean Air Act requires the EPA to protect the health of the American people and our environment from air pollution. One of the ways the EPA carries out this mission is through national air pollution standards, which are known officially as the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). These air pollution standards regulate six major air pollutants that can cause a wide range of health problems from respiratory illness to premature death: particulate matter (soot), ozone (smog), sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, lead, and carbon monoxide.
Using the best available scientific evidence, the EPA is required to set limits for air pollution low enough and with "a margin of safety" sufficient to protect everyone, including the most sensitive groups. The EPA has to review and update each of the national standards every five years.
EPA Proposes Strengthening the Smog Standard
Formed when nitrogen oxide reacts with other air pollution and sunlight, ozone has historically been one of the hardest major air pollutants for the EPA to control. Also known as smog, ozone can cause a wide range of health problems like shortness of breath, increased risk of asthma attacks, and premature death.
In June 2007, the EPA released a new proposed revision to the ozone pollution standard. This proposal calls for lowering the standard to somewhere in the range of 0.070 to 0.075 parts per million. This strengthening is a very good step in the right direction, although it falls short of the lower range of 0.060 that was recommended by the scientific experts on the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. During the announcement, EPA Administrator Johnson repeatedly stated that the current standard is not protective of public health. However, at the same time, EPA has decided to take comments on maintaining the current standard without any revision.
EPA will accept public comments on the proposed revision from now until sometime in September. During this comment period, Sierra Club and individuals have the opportunity to submit comments urging the EPA to reject maintaining the current standard and to set the lowest possible level under consideration. In addition, EPA has announced four public hearings on the proposed revision. These hearings will be held on August 30 in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, and on September 5 in Chicago, Atlanta and Houston.
 Learn more about the dangers of smog.
Read Sierra Club's concerns about the smog standard in a letter signed by the heads of 20 national public health and environmental groups.
Read a new CRS report on revising the ozone standard.
Soot Standards Put Public Health at Risk
The EPA's standard to limit soot pollution, or particulate matter pollution, announced in September 2006 disappointed environmental, medical, and the scientific communities. In the time since the EPA last updated its standard in 1997 and when the new standard was announced, more than 2,000 scientific studies showed that exposure to even smaller amounts of soot cause serious health damage. Scientists urged EPA to create a standard in keeping with the deluge of scientific findings detailing the damaging health impacts of soot pollution on the respiratory and circulatory systems and the increased risks for illness and death.
Find out how the EPA is leaving Americans at risk.
Learn more about the health effects of the six criteria pollutants and where they come from.
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