How Low Will It Go? EPA’s Proposal To Lower Ozone Limit May Leave Many Counties In Nonattainment

On Oct. 6, 2014 the U.S. Supreme Court denied an industry group's petition challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) 2008 decision to lower the 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) from 80 parts per billion (ppb) to 75 ppb. With that legal battle put to rest, the next month, on Nov. 25, EPA announced it is accepting comments on a new proposal to lower the ozone NAAQS even further to between 65 ppb and 70 ppb. EPA is also accepting comments on either retaining the current standard or setting an even lower standard of 60 ppb, which was suggested by the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, an entity that provides EPA with scientific assessments for the NAAQS. The proposal was published in the Federal Register on Dec. 17, and comments are due by March 17, 2015.