EPA REJECTS STATES' PLEA TO STRENGTHEN PM2.5 CONFORMITY RULES

摘要

EPA is poised to promulgate a precedent-setting rule that will allow the military and other federal agencies to release up to 100 tons per year (tpy) of fine particles (PM2.5) without being subject to state air quality control plans, rejecting the pleas of state and local air agencies to lower the threshold, according to EPA sources. The final rule, which cleared review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in late September, will soon be published in the Federal Register, EPA sources indicate, along with long-delayed "streamlining" measures to ease compliance by federal facilities with other general conformity requirements for several other criteria air pollutants. These measures will also set up a process for incorporating any new ambient air quality standards that are developed into federal facilities' conformity requirements.