Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
(24-hour.average)..Challenged.by.various.industry.petitioners,.the.PM
2.5.
standards.
eventually.were.upheld.in.2002.
On.January.17,.2006,.the.EPA.proposed.new.revisions.to.the.PM
2.5
.standards,.
under.a.schedule.that.called.for.issuing.inal.standards.by.September.27,.2006.
.If.
the.primary.standards.are.adopted.as.proposed,.the.24-hour.standard.will.be.tight-
ened.from.65.to.35.µg/m
3
,.while.the.15-µg/m
3
.annual.standard.will.be.retained..The.
secondary.standards.as.proposed.would.be.the.same.as.the.primary.standards.
Neither.the.December.20,.2005,.proposed.revised.PM.standards,.nor.the.back-
ground. documents. issued. together. with. the. proposal,. discuss. the. standards. in. the.
context. of. particles. emitted. from. applied. nanotechnology.. This. omission. may.
relect.little.more.than.that.nanotechnology.and.its.implications.for.federal.regula-
tors. may. have. been. scarcely. a. blip. on. the. radar. screen. when. development. of. the.
revised.NAAQS.began.
.It.does,.however,.at.least.indicate.that.a.regulatory.strategy.
to.address.airborne.emissions.from.applied.nanotechnology.was.not.front.and.center.
among.the.EPA's.goals.in.drafting.the.revised.PM
2.5
.standards.
...
hazardous air Pollutant standards under Caa section
The. standards. for. regulating. hazardous. air. pollutants. (HAPs). issued. by. the. EPA.
under.CAA.Section.112.offer.another.pathway.for.regulating.emissions.from.indus-
tries.involved.in.nanotechnology.[35]..In.contrast.to.Section.108,.Section.112.does.
not.contain.a.threshold.requiring.“numerous.and.diverse”.sources.to.trigger.federal.
regulation..Thus,.it.is.available.to.address.pollutants.that.are.not.necessarily.ubiq-
uitous. nationwide.. Section. 112. allows. the. EPA. to. target. pollutants. of. concern. on.
an. industry-wide. basis,. from. both. new. and. existing. stationary. sources,. once. they.
are. listed. as. HAPs. under. Section. 112(b).. Congress. identiied. an. initial. list. of. 189.
pollutants. into. the. law.. The. EPA. is. authorized. to. add. pollutants. to. the. list. (or. to.
remove.them).on.its.own.initiative.or.in.response.to.a.third-party.petition.
Congress. set. a. 10-year. deadline. of. November. 2000. for. the. EPA. to. adopt. the.
required. technology-based. emission. standards. for. the. universe. of. major. industrial.
.The.1997.PM.standards,.together.with.controversial.revisions.to.the.ozone.NAAQS.promulgated.at.
the. same. time,. were. the. subject. of. protracted. litigation. in. the. Court. of. Appeals. for. the. District. of.
Columbia.Circuit,.the.Supreme.Court,.and,.inally,.again.in.the.D.C..Circuit,.which.ultimately.upheld.
them..See..American.Trucking.Assn.v..EPA,.175.F.3d.1027.(D.C..Cir..1999);.Whitman.v..American.
Trucking.Ass'n,.531.U.S..457.(2001);.and.American.Trucking.Ass'n..v..EPA,.283.F.3d.355.(D.C..Cir..
2001),.respectively.
.71.Fed..Reg..2620.(Jan..17,.2006)..The.schedule.for.completion.of.this.review.is.the.result.of.a.lawsuit.
initiated.by.the.American.Lung.Association.and.other.plaintiffs.in.2003.to.enforce.the.5-year.cycle.
established.in.CAA.Section.108(d).for.EPA.to.review.the.NAAQS.and.make.any.needed.revisions..See.
American.Lung.Ass'n..v..Whitman,.No..03-778.-.ESH.(D.D.C.).
.In.its.proposal,.the.EPA.seeks.comment.on.a.variety.of.alternatives.to.various.aspects.of.the.proposal..
Conceivably,.it.could.decide.to.speciically.target.the.smallest.among.the.universe.of.PM2.5.particles..
The. preamble. to. the. proposal. states,. however,. that. “the. Administrator. provisionally. concludes. that.
currently.available.studies.do.not.provide.a.suficient.basis.for.supplementing.mass-based.ine.particle.
standards.for.any.speciic.ine.particle.component.or.subset.of.ine.particles,.or.for.eliminating.any.
individual. component. or. subset. of. components. from. ine. particle. mass. standards.”. 71. Fed.. Reg.. at.
2645.
