United Stat s Government Accountability Office
Washington DC 20548
e
,
B-316213
April 10, 2008
The Honorable Barbara Boxer
Chairman
The Honorable James M. Inhofe
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Environment and Public Works
United States Senate
The Honorable John D. Dingell
Chairman
The Honorable Joe Barton
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Energy and Commerce
House of Representatives
Subject: Environmental Protection Agency: Na onal Ambien Air Quality Standards
or Ozone
ti
t
f
Pursuant to section 801(a)(2)(A) of title 5, United States Code, this is our report on a
major rule promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), entitled
“National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone” (RIN: 2060-AN24). We received
the rule on March 17, 2008. It was published in the Federal Register as a final rule on
March 27, 2008. 73 Fed. Reg. 16,436.
Based on its review of the air quality criteria for ozone (O3) and related
photochemical oxidants and natural ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for O3,
EPA’s final rule revises the primary and secondary NAAQS for O3 to provide requisite
protection of public health and welfare. With regard to the primary standard for O3,
EPA revised the level of the 8-hour standard to 0.075 parts per million (ppm),
expressed to three decimal places. With regard to the secondary standard for O3,
EPA revised the current 8-hour standard by making it identical to the revised
primary standard. EPA also made conforming changes to the Air Quality Index
(AQI) for O3, setting an AQI value of 100 equal to 0.075 ppm, 8-hour average, and
making proportional changes to the AQI values of 50, 150, and 200. The final rule is
effective on May 27, 2008.
GAO-08-629R
Enclosed is our assessment of the EPA’s compliance with the procedural steps
required by section 801(a)(1)(B)(i) through (iv) of title 5 with respect to the rule.
Our review indicates that the EPA complied with the applicable requirements.
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