Implementation of EPA's 8-Hour Ozone Standard

Publication Date: April 2004

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

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Research Area: Environment

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Abstract:

On April 15, 2004, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated areas in 32 states and the District of Columbia (474 counties in all) as “nonattainment areas” for a new ozone air quality standard. This standard was promulgated by EPA in 1997, but because of court challenges and other delays is just now being implemented. Designation begins a process in which the areas must adopt emission control programs sufficient to bring air quality into compliance. Deadlines will vary depending on the severity of the measured pollution. Areas failing to adopt adequate plans or failing to demonstrate that their highway and transit construction programs “conform” to approved emission budgets, are subject to sanctions, including a possible lapse in the provision of federal highway funds.

While much attention has been placed on the challenges that new nonattainment areas will face in implementing the new ozone standard, less attention has been paid to the impact of the new standard on areas not yet in attainment of the old (1-hour) ozone standard. Many of these areas, especially the most severely polluted, appear likely to be given as many as 16 additional years to reach attainment under EPA’s implementation plan. In the many explanations of EPA’s new “tougher” standards, this apparent relaxation of the Act’s requirements for the most severely polluted areas has gone largely unnoticed.

This report, which will be updated as developments warrant, provides information on the designation process for nonattainment areas, describes EPA’s implementation plan, and discusses issues that have been raised as EPA, the states, and potential nonattainment areas develop implementation strategies. These issues include how the boundaries of nonattainment areas should be set, how areas can improve air quality sufficiently to attain the standard, what the timelines will be for attainment, whether areas affected by upwind pollution can be granted extra time to comply, what grants might be available to assist areas in reaching attainment, and whether designation will have a negative impact on economic activity in the affected areas. In response to some of these concerns, Congress is considering legislation that might alter the implementation process. The courts may also be asked to review whether the Agency’s implementation of the standard meets the statutory requirements of the Clean Air Act.