{
  "id": "RL34479",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL34479",
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  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
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      "id": 356303,
      "date": "2010-02-03",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T01:57:34.921808",
      "title": "Revising the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Lead",
      "summary": "The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under a court order to review the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for lead, announced his decision October 16, 2008, reducing the standard by 90%, from 1.5 micrograms per cubic meter (\u00b5g/m3) to 0.15 \u00b5g/m3. EPA also promulgated new monitoring requirements at that time, requiring monitors downwind of any source emitting one ton or more of lead per year and in urban areas with populations of 500,000 or more. In January 2009, the Natural Resources Defense Council and three other groups petitioned EPA for a reconsideration of the monitoring requirements. EPA granted the petition and, in December 2009, proposed changes in the monitoring requirements, notably lowering the source-oriented emissions threshold from one ton to 0.50 tons per year. \nNAAQS are standards for outdoor (ambient) air that are intended to protect public health and welfare from harmful concentrations of pollution. In strengthening the lead standard, the Administrator has concluded that protecting public health and welfare requires much lower concentrations of lead pollution in ambient air than the level previously held to be safe. Lead particles can be inhaled or ingested, and, once in the body, can cause lower IQ and effects on learning, memory, and behavior in children. In adults, lead exposure is linked to increased blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and decreased kidney function.\nRegulation of airborne lead is often described as one of the key successes of the Clean Air Act and of the Environmental Protection Agency. In 1970, when lead was widely used as a gasoline additive, emissions of lead nationwide totaled 224,100 tons. Lead was also present then in many consumer products, and thus was emitted to the air from industrial processes and waste incinerators. The phasing out of lead from gasoline, paint, and other products, as well as stricter controls on industrial emissions, reduced lead emissions more than 99%, to 1,300 tons in 2007.\nThe reduction in lead emissions and ambient concentrations led some to suggest that there was no longer a need for an ambient air quality standard for lead. Others, including the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), an independent panel of scientists who advise the EPA Administrator, concluded that the old NAAQS (established in 1978) was far too lenient, that lead in ambient air still poses a threat to public health, and that the NAAQS needed to be significantly strengthened. CASAC recommended that the standard be reduced from 1.5 \u00b5g/m3 to no higher than 0.2 \u00b5g/m3. In promulgating a more stringent NAAQS, the Administrator agreed with the scientists\u2019 recommendation, rejecting the argument that the standard is no longer needed.\nThe Administrator\u2019s decision followed a multi-year review of the science. To implement the new standard, EPA and the states will first identify nonattainment areas (expected to occur no later than January 2012), following which there will be a 5-10 year-long implementation process in which states and local governments will identify and implement measures to reduce lead in the air. As noted earlier, EPA also promulgated changes to the monitoring requirements for lead as part of the NAAQS decision. As of 2008, at least 24 of the 50 states, including some with major sources of lead emissions, had no lead monitors at all. Under the 2008 regulations, all 101 metropolitan areas with populations greater than 500,000 would be required to have monitors as would the estimated 135 areas that have sources of lead emissions greater than or equal to one ton per year. In December 2009, EPA proposed further changes, lowering the source-oriented emissions threshold from one ton to 0.50 tons per year, while eliminating the urban area monitoring requirement. In place of the latter, lead monitoring would be added to a national network of 80 sites that will monitor multiple pollutants.",
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      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc817329/",
      "id": "RL34479_2008Oct24",
      "date": "2008-10-24",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
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    {
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      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc98103/",
      "id": "RL34479_2008Jul28",
      "date": "2008-07-28",
      "retrieved": "2012-08-21T08:46:06",
      "title": "Revising the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Lead",
      "summary": "This report provides background on the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS), the process used to establish the standards, the factors leading to the reduction in lead emissions, and the proposed changes to the lead standard, as well as information regarding the potential effects of any revision.",
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          "id": "Air pollution control",
          "name": "Air pollution control"
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          "name": "Environmental policy"
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      "id": "RL34479_2008May07",
      "date": "2008-05-07",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "Revising the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Lead",
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