Review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter: Updated Assessment of Scientific and Technical Information. Addendum to the 1982 OAQPS (Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards) Staff Paper

摘要

The paper evaluates and interprets the updated scientific and technical information that the EPA staff believes is most relevant to decision making on revised primary (health) national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter and is an addendum to the 1982 particulate matter staff paper. The assessment is intended to help bridge the gap between the scientific review contained in the EPA criteria document addendum and the judgements required of the Administrator in making final decisions on revisions to the primary NAAQS for particulate matter that were proposed in March 1984 (49 FR 10408). The major recommendations of this addendum include the following: (1) The staff reaffirms its recommendation to replace TSP as the particle indicator for the primary standards with a new indicator that includes only those particles less than or equal to a nominal 10 um, termed PM(sub 10); (2) Based on an updated staff assessment of the short-term epidemiological data, the range of 24-hour PM(sub 10) levels of interest is 140 to 250 ug/cu/m; (3) Based on an updated staff assessment of the long-term epidemiological data, the range of annual PM(sub 10) levels of interest is 40 to 65 ug/cu/m; (4) When selecting final standard levels, consideration should be given to the combined protection afforded by the 24-hour and annual standards taken together.