Ozone Pollution in the Rural United States and the New NAAQS

Abstract

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently proposed a new National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone, based on an 8-hour averaged concentration of 0.08 part per million. An analysis of ozone data gathered in 1995 by the Southern Oxidants Study Spatial Ozone Network (SON) and EPA’s Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNet) indicates that promulgation of this new standard will bring large parts of the rural eastern United States into nonattainment. This in turn will necessitate a major change in the nation’s pollution control strategies.