1、CRS INSIGHTEPAs New Ozone Standards: A Few ThoughtsSeptember 29, 2015 (IN10365) | |James E. McCarthy, Specialist in Environmental Policy (jmccarthycrs.loc.gov, 7-7225)The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is under a court order to finalize its review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards
2、 (NAAQS) for ozone by October 1, 2015. After several years of analysis, compiling information from more than 1,000 studies on health effects, exposure, and environmental impacts, EPA proposed more stringent standards last November. This began a public comment period, leading toward the final decisio
3、n.The proposal brought forth a familiar set of arguments. On one side, public health advocates stated that the proposal, which would lower both the primary and secondary standard from 75 parts per billion (ppb) to somewhere in the range of 65 to 70 ppb, wasnt strong enough. On the other side, potent
4、ially affected industries argued that meeting standards in the range EPA proposed would devastate the economy.The Clean Air Act, as enacted in 1970, requires a public health focus in the setting of NAAQS. In authorizing EPAs action, it states that the EPA Administrator should set a primary standard
