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Air Quality Management in the United States
process. Recommended actions include enhancing the effectiveness and innovation of state and local air quality planning, while maintaining federal oversight and retaining requirements for conformity with regional transportation planning.
Develop an integrated program for criteria pollutants and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). Recommended actions include establishing a more unified assessment of criteria and hazardous air pollutants, setting priorities for those pollutants, establishing a more dynamic process for considering new pollutants, and considering multiple pollutants in forming the scientific basis for NAAQS.
Enhance protection of ecosystems and other aspects of public welfare. Recommended actions include better tracking of ecosystem effects and building an improved basis for implementing secondary or alternative standards to protect ecosystems.
Implementation of these recommendations will still require substantial resources, but they should not be overwhelming, especially when compared with current expenditures for CAA compliance and costs resulting from harmful effects of air pollution on human health and welfare. Implementing these recommendations will also require a commitment by all parties to adjust and change; it may also require new legislation from Congress. As the transition occurs, however, it is imperative that ongoing programs to reduce emissions continue so that progress toward cleaner air is maintained.
