EPA air quality Articles
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MODELS-3/CMAQ evaluation during high particulate episodes over Eastern North America in summer 1995 and winter 1998
This study presents the results of an evaluation of the US EPA air quality modelling system MODELS 3/CMAQ/MM5 during episodes of high particulate matter over Eastern North America. Modelling results for PM2.5, PM10, secondary aerosols and precursor gases were compared with observed data derived from a number of monitoring networks operated in the USA and Canada during the episodes.Keywords: ...
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The Use of Real-Time Air Quality Data in Daily Forecasting and Decision-Making
The feature articles published in this month’s issue describe various near-realtime data resources and provide examples of how they are being used to facilitate air quality forecasting and daily decision-making. The articles reinforce the importance of making as much environmental data as possible available to the public in real time. The major national source of realtime air quality ...
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U.S. EPA Releases 1-Hour NO2 NAAQS Modeling Guidance
The U.S. EPA Air Quality Modeling Group (AQMG) recently released a new guidance document for NO2 modeling. The document outlines procedures that can be used to calculate the NO2 design values for comparison to the new 1-hour NO2 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). The new 1-hour NO2 standard of 100 ppb goes into effect on April 12, 2010. This 1-hour NO2 standard is based on the ...
By All4 Inc.
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Get the Lead Out
EPA rethinks air quality standards, seeks comments. By any independent standard, the federal government has made significant progress in reducing lead concentrations in ambient air. Average lead concentrations have dropped 96% since the 1980s, primarily due to the ban on lead in motor vehicle gasoline. Since the late 1970s, bloodlead concentrations for children ages 1 to 5 have decreased ...
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Managing air quality during regulatory changes
This paper discusses the regulatory and technical issues associated with the revisions to the US EPA Guideline on Air Quality Models. The proposed guideline includes the models AERMOD, CALPUFF, and ISC-PRIME, all of which contain significant technical improvements over prior models. Differences in modelling requirements are appearing as regulatory agencies and industries use technically superior ...
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Legal Lookout: EPA Staff Urges Changes in PM Standards
Earlier this year, EPA staff scientists urged agency management to revise the current particulate matter (PM) standards for fine particles and the inhalable portion of coarse particles, based on evidence that suggests to EPA scientists that more protection is needed than is provided under current air standards. Background The Clean Air Act (CAA) requires that EPA periodically review its ...
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Remote sensing of emissions: new technologies and recent work
The Second International Workshop on Remote Sensing of Emissions: New Technologies and Recent Work was held April 1-3, 2008. The workshop was sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards at Research Triangle Park (RTP), Office of Research and Development (RTP), and Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (HQ). At the workshop, ...
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Dispersion Notes: U.S. EPA Proposes Changes to AERMOD and CALPUFF
Last week, BREEZE staff made the trip to U.S. EPA’s offices in North Carolina for their 11th Modeling Conference to get the latest updates on upcoming changes to the AERMOD system, CALPUFF, and other issues. The highlights include: Relief is coming to U.S. AERMOD users dealing with overprediction of concentrations in low wind speed hours: U.S. EPA plans to make the LOWWIND3 and ADJ_U* ...
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Modeling Tip: Disabling Onsite and Offsite Receptors in BREEZE AERMOD
The type of modeling analysis you are conducting will determine if you are interested in the highest offsite or onsite pollutant concentrations. For example, if you are modeling to show compliance with the U.S. EPA National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), you will be interested in the concentrations that occur offsite, whereas if you want to show compliance with OSHA regulations you will ...
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What is the size distribution and sources of particles in ambient air?
The particle sizes in the ambient air are ranged from 1 nanometer to slightly more than 10 micrometers. There are three modes: coarse, fine and nano. The course mode particles are road dusts, spores and pollens. The minimum sizes of these particles are 1 to 3 micrometers. The fine mode particles are generally secondary particles formed from reactions such as smoke, sulfates, nitrates, ammonium ...
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The Role of SIPs in Achieving Better Air Quality
Untitled Document For more than 30 years, attaining the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Ambient Air Quality Standards has been a major priority of the Clean Air Act (CAA). State and local air pollution control agencies have played a key role in meeting this objective by developing comprehensive, regional clean air plans, known as ...
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A special issue of JAW&MA supporting key scientific and policy- and health-relevant findings from EPA`s particulate matter supersites program and related studies: an integration and synthesis of results
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initiated a major air quality program in 1998 referred to as the Particulate Matter (PM) Supersites Program. The overall goal of the program was to improve our understanding of source/receptor relationships and atmospheric processes leading to PM accumulation on urban and regional scales, and thus, provide the scientific underpinning for modeling and ...
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Ever-changing regulations and guidelines inhibit production and reduce profits
Operators of chemical processing facilities are always under scrutiny from environmental protection regulatory agencies. Overlapping and frequently confusing regulations that affect the industry are enforced on federal, state, and local levels. To make life even more difficult for the chemical plant operator, volatile organic compound (VOC) and hazardous air pollutants (HAP) control standards ...
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EPA Reviews National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone, and Other Recent CAA Developments
EPA Reviews National Ambient Air Quality Standards For Ozone: On December 17, 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a proposed rule revising the air quality criteria for ozone (O3) and related photochemical oxidants and National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for O3. 79 Fed. Reg. 75234. EPA proposed to revise the primary standard to a level within the range of 0.065 ...
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EPA mercury rules: Keeping the lights on while removing toxics from our air
Next week the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to finalize new rules to reduce mercury and other toxic air emissions that will affect dozens of antiquated power plants currently operating without pollution controls. These rules have stirred debate in some circles as to whether retrofitting or retiring outdated plants will cause shortfalls in electricity capacity. How will new EPA ...
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Bad air at home linked to poor performance at school
EPA Warns Indoor Air More Concerning That polluted haze that can be seen over the horizon, acting like a beacon and reminding you what should already be common sense and well understood: dirty air is not good for your health. That is the visible simplicity of smog outside, but how about the air in your own homes or where you work? It is a fact that indoor air is, in many cases, a more grievous ...
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US EPA Grant Funding for Environmental Justice: How to apply for the EJG2G & EJCPS programs
TL;DR The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced $100 million in environmental justice funding opportunities through two grant programs — their largest-ever investment in environmental justice funding! Air quality monitoring projects are expected to be one of the largest categories of awards — in this blog we will break down what grant funding programs are ...
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How Refiners Use Monitoring Tools to Support Community Health and Safety
Nothing is more important than the health and safety of our people and our communities—the communities where our employees live, work and go to school. Fenceline monitoring is used at our facilities to aid in the early detection of emissions, including benzene. The data helps us immediately correct problems and nearly all refining facilities quickly return to below action levels after ...
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How to decifer government laws for refrigerant gases (R-22 HCFCs)
Refrigerant Gas Regulations for R-22 HCFCs: How the Government Mandates Monitoring and TrackingThe U.S. Clean Air Act is a regulation that spells out the EPA's role in air quality, especially in protecting the ozone layer and the tracking and reporting of Greenhouse Gases. The Act is maintained by the House of Representatives. The Clean Air Act has had changes made in the 1990s and again in 2008 ...
By Accruent
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WQP magazine`s featured article written by company president
The interest in reducing environmental lead exposure in evident with the recent revision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the nation's Air Quality Standards, which were lowered from 1.5 to 0.15 ug of lead per cubiv meter of air. "With these stronger standards, a new generation of Americans is protected from harmful lead emissions, especially children," said EPA Administration ...
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