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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced
today its proposal for a revised National Ambient Air Quality Standard for
ground-level ozone. EPA proposes to strengthen
the standard to within a range of 65 to 70 parts per billion (ppb), while
taking comments on a level as low as 60 ppb. A 90-day public comment
period on the proposal will open once the proposal is published in the Federal
Register, probably in the next few weeks. EPA plans to finalize the standard in
the fall of 2015. More information is available on the EPA’s website.
Recent air monitoring found a violation of the Minnesota
standard for Total Suspended Particulate (TSP) in North Minneapolis. The
standard was exceeded on two days in October and November, which, under state
rules, constitutes a violation of the standard. MPCA Industrial Division
Director Jeff Smith said monitoring since the exceedances has shown no further
violations but that the agency is taking steps to identify potential sources of
or contributors to the violation and to prevent future occurrences. The
MPCA sent out a press release about the violation on November 24, available on
the Agency’s
website.
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