Appendix B
Statement of Task
Develop scientific and technical recommendations for strengthening the nation’s air quality management system with respect to the way it identifies and incorporates important sources of exposure to humans and ecosystems and integrates new understandings of human and ecosystem risks. To this end, the committee will conduct a scientific and technical evaluation of the effectiveness of the major air quality provisions of the Clean Air Act and their implementation by federal, state, and local government agencies.
The committee’s review will address scientific and technical aspects of the policies and programs that are intended to manage important air pollutants including, but not limited to, national ambient (“criteria”) pollutants and air toxics. It will evaluate scientific and technical aspects of current approaches for health and environmental problem identification, regulatory standards development, air quality management plan development, plan implementation, and progress evaluation. Stratospheric ozone protection and greenhouse gas emissions will not be included in the scope of the study, except in regard to strategies to control emissions from sources in tropospheric air quality control programs.
The committee will address:
Scientific and technical bases for identifying and controlling air quality problems and for understanding the importance of various emissions sources;
Scientific and technical bases of current approaches used to set technology-based standards, emission standards, and ambient air quality standards;
Scientific and technical bases of current approaches for developing and implementing air quality management plans, including procedures for developing emissions inventories, models for evaluating management strategies and relating emissions to air quality; and the State Implementation Plans and other air quality management programs;
Measures of performance used to determine progress toward public health and environmental goals, and the use of these measures to modify management systems as needed;
Potential for new scientific concepts and methods, such as those related to human exposure assessment, intermedia transfer, and source-receptor modeling, to be utilized more effectively in the management of air quality;
Scientific and technical aspects of policies and tools (e.g., emissions trading) for air quality management;
Balance between the need for national consistency and the need for local flexibility in carrying out the major air quality provisions of the Clean Air Act;
The extent to which one can rely on anticipated technological advances for achieving emissions reductions in SIPs and other air quality management plans;
Adequacy of current and future expertise, resources, and infrastructure at federal, state, and local agencies to implement air quality management programs;
The effectiveness of federal research programs to enhance the nation’s capacity to manage air pollution.
Sponsor: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency