EPA Advisers Back Novel NOx-SOx Air Standard But Seek Key Revisions

摘要

EPA's science advisers are backing the agency's planned novel joint national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for nitrogen oxide (NOx) and sulfur oxide (SOx), but say that EPA needs to resolve several outstanding issues including questions about the adequacy of the indicator the agency plans to use to measure ecological effects.rnThe tentative support from EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) could be a major boost for the agency's attempts to issue a joint NOx-SOx standard in the face of industry criticism that such an approach might violate the Clean Air Act. A key agency official recently defended the plan against such criticism and said that the air law gives EPA authority to pursue the joint standard using the indicator that it has identified.