Tag Archives: CASAC

Last week, Inside EPA (subscription required) reported that the Clean Air Science Advisory Committee has pretty much agreed that the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone must be made more stringent.  Apparently, the panel is looking at recommending that the primary standard be reduced from 70 ppb to a range of 55-60 ppb.  CASAC is also recommending a reduction in the secondary standard. 

I’ve blogged numerous times about the role that CASAC recommendations play in judicial review of EPA’s decisions concerning setting the NAAQS. … More

EPA has finally proposed revisions to the national ambient air quality standard for PM2.5.  The Administrator is proposing to lower the standard from 12.0 ug/m3 to a range of 9.0 to 10.0 ug/m3. 

Readers of this space will recall that the Clean Air Science Advisory Committee recommended that EPA lower the PM2.5 NAAQS to between 8.0 and 10.0 ug/m3.  Environmentalists aren’t going to be happy with any standard above 8.0 ug/m3 and it’s likely that conservatives aren’t going to be happy with any decrease from the current standard.… More

Last week, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee formally transmitted its recommendations to EPA Administrator Regan regarding the PM2.5 NAAQS.  Consistent with trade press reporting over the past few months, the majority of CASAC members recommended that the PM2.5 NAAQS be set between 8-10 ug/m3.  A minority recommended the range be set between 10-11 ug/m3.  I’d be surprised if the revised NAAQS is set above 10 ug/3. 

For me,… More

Last week, the New England Journal of Medicine published The Need for a Tighter Particulate-Matter Air-Quality Standard, written by the Independent Particulate Matter Review Panel.  For those who don’t remember, the Review Panel used to be a sub-committee of EPA’s Clean Air Science Advisory Committee, until EPA Administrator Wheeler decided that CASAC did not need the specific advice that the Review Panel had to offer.… More

After more than three years of ignoring science whenever it does not support this Administration’s preferred outcomes, the issue of the future of science in environmental regulation has now been well and truly joined.  Yesterday, Administrator Wheeler, disagreeing with the recommendation of EPA’s own staff, announced that EPA is proposing to retain the current National Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM2.5 of 12 ug/m3, notwithstanding substantial evidence that PM2.5 poses significant risks even below 10 ug/m3. … More

EPA’s Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards has issued its final “Policy Assessment for the Review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter.”  The Policy Assessment comes with the standard disclaimer that its “findings and conclusions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of EPA.”  Sadly, truer words were never spoken.

Those following this issue know that,… More

Last month, I noted that EPA’s Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards had released a draft reassessment of the particulate matter NAAQS.  In a bold moment of speculation, I indicated that it would be difficult for EPA to avoid lowering the PM2.5 NAAQS to between 8.0 and 10.0 micrograms/cubic meter.  Following issuance of the draft, and in order to ensure that EPA does not ignore the emerging scientific consensus,… More

The D.C. Circuit today largely upheld EPA’s 2015 revisions to the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone.  I’m not much of a prognosticator, but I pretty much called this one years ago.  The Court was never going to require EPA to consider costs in setting the NAAQS – not a surprise, given that the Supreme Court concluded in Whitman v.… More

Last week, EPA posted its draft Integrated Science Assessment for Particulate Matter.  It’s the foundational document for EPA’s periodic review of its National Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM.  The current standard for PM2.5, promulgated in 2012, is 12 ug/m3.

Section 109 of the Clean Air Act requires the Administrator to set the NAAQS “requisite to protect the public health” with “an adequate margin of safety.”

The new ISA states that:

Evidence from U.S.… More

On Thursday, EPA finally released its final rule revising the ozone NAAQS to 70 ppb.  I do not spend much time peering into a crystal ball, but I will go out on a limb and say that the industry challenges to the rule will fail. Just ain’t gonna happen.

The environmental group challenges pose a more interesting question.  There’s a fair bit of evidence of health impacts below 70 ppb,… More

Yesterday, EPA finally proposed a revised ambient air quality standard for ozone – except that the agency is still hedging its bets.  The Clean Air Science Advisory Committee had previously supported a revised ozone NAAQS of 0.060 to 0.070 ppm.  EPA has narrowed the range slightly, proposing a revised NAAQS of from 0.065 to 0.070 ppm, but still has not yet picked a number.… More

On Friday, EPA released its “Policy Assessment for the Review of the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards.” EPA staff concluded:

that it is appropriate in this review to consider a revised primary O3 standard level within the range of 70 ppb to 60 ppb. A standard set within this range would result in important improvements in public protection, compared to the current standard,… More

As we have noted previously, EPA has had difficulty in promulgating a revised National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone. Whenever the revised NAAQS is issued – and EPA is under court deadline to propose a draft by December 1, 2014 and a issue a final by October 1, 2015 – the actual standard that EPA is likely to issue is coming into focus.

Late last week,… More

On Monday, EPA released its second external review draft of an updated Policy Assessment on the national ambient air quality standard for ozone.  It also released updated draft risk and exposure assessments.  To no one’s surprise, the new drafts confirm support for lowering the ozone NAAQS from 75 ppb to a range of 60 ppb to 70 ppb.

Why is this not a surprise? … More

On Tuesday, in Mississippi v. EPA, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed EPA’s 2008 NAAQS for ozone of 0.075 ppm.  However, it remanded EPA’s decision to set the secondary NAAQS, for public welfare, at the same 0.075 ppm level.  With respect to the primary standard, the Court gave short shrift to industry and red-state challenges that the standard was too stringent.  This is not surprising,… More