Ozone Air Quality Criteria Document Released
EPA announced on March 22 that it will review the current air quality standard for ozone to determine if it needs to be revised. The "Air Quality Criteria for Ozone and Related Photochemical Oxidants," document provides scientific bases for EPA's periodic review of the current air quality standards for ozone.
The Clean Air Act requires EPA to periodically review the scientific basis for National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for six major pollutants, including ozone, to determine whether the standards sufficiently protect public health and the environment.
This final Ozone Air Quality Criteria Document (AQCD) is a revision of the EPA Ozone AQCD published in 1996. The document evaluates the scientific peer-reviewed literature that has been generated since the current ozone NAAQS was set in 1997, and integrates the new findings with previously available studies. The publication of important new research is one part of the public process to review air quality standards.
EPA is scheduled to propose whether to retain or revise the current national ozone standards in March 2007, and to issue a final decision by December 2007.
The Ozone AQCD is available at http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=149923.
This article originally appeared in the 03/01/2006 issue of Environmental Protection.