{
  "id": "R43953",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R43953",
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  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
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      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 448304,
      "date": "2015-12-23",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-06T17:38:53.791217",
      "title": "2013 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5): Designating Nonattainment Areas",
      "summary": "On April 7, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published amendments to the January 15, 2015, final rule designating areas for compliance with the 2013 primary annual National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Revising a NAAQS established under the Clean Air Act (CAA) sets in motion a process under which the states and EPA identify areas that exceed the standard (\u201cnonattainment areas\u201d) using multi-year air quality monitoring data and other criteria, requiring states to take steps to reduce pollutant concentrations in order to meet the standard.\nThe 2013 revisions to the PM NAAQS were the subject of considerable congressional oversight. EPA\u2019s designation of nonattainment areas may be an issue of interest and debate among Members of Congress, states, and other stakeholders. The PM NAAQS revisions, published January 2013 changed the annual health-based (\u201cprimary\u201d) standard for \u201cfine\u201d particulate matter 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter (or PM2.5) to a limit of 12 micrograms per cubic meter (\u00b5g/m3) from the 15 \u00b5g/m3 limit. Revisions to the PM NAAQS retained the existing 24-hour primary standard for PM2.5 of 35 \u00b5g/m3 (as promulgated in 2006) and the existing standard for larger, but still inhalable, \u201ccoarse\u201d particles 10 micrometers or less in diameter, or PM10.\nDuring EPA\u2019s consideration of alternative approaches for revising the PM NAAQS, many stakeholders and some in Congress expressed concern about the potential impacts associated with an increased number of areas that may be deemed nonattainment under a more stringent standard. The number of areas ultimately determined nonattainment for the revised PM NAAQS were considerably fewer than some had anticipated. \nBased on its review of recently submitted 2014 air quality data, EPA\u2019s April 2015 modifications to the final area designations for the 2013 PM NAAQS resulted in nine areas consisting of 20 counties in four states designated as nonattainment. All but two of the 20 counties have been previously designated as nonattainment for the 2006 and/or the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS. In accordance with a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on January 4, 2013, EPA classified all areas determined to be in nonattainment as \u201cmoderate\u201d nonattainment areas under the authority of Section 188 of the CAA.\nIn comparison to the nonattainment area designations as amended by EPA in April 2015, EPA\u2019s final designations published in January 2015 were composed of 14 areas comprising 38 counties in 6 states. The EPA April 2015 amended designations changed the nonattainment designation of two areas in Pennsylvania (four counties) and one each in Ohio (three counties) and Ohio (four counties)/Kentucky (three counties) to \u201cunclassifiable/attainment\u201d and one area in Kentucky (two counties)/Indiana (two counties) to \u201cunclassifiable.\u201d EPA also designated five areas in Georgia (including two counties in Alabama and South Carolina) as unclassifiable.\nStates have 18 months from the April 15, 2015, effective date of EPA\u2019s final designations to submit State Implementation Plans, which identify specific regulations and emission control requirements intended to bring an area into compliance or maintain compliance. Section 188 of the CAA requires that moderate nonattainment areas achieve attainment as expeditiously as practicable but no later than the end of the sixth calendar year after designation as nonattainment.",
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      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "IBCList",
          "id": 258,
          "name": "Clean Air Act and Air Quality"
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    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc814982/",
      "id": "R43953_2015Mar24",
      "date": "2015-03-24",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "2013 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5): Designating Nonattainment Areas",
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