Since 2002 the EPA has released the national air toxics data and risk assessment every 3-4 years. The goal of this change to policy announced on June 23rd, 2021 is to provide communities with more complete information about their air quality in a timely manner.
Starting later this year and continuing in future years, EPA will make information about the estimated risks of air toxics available to the public using the latest air emissions inventory – beginning with 2017. This information will be incorporated into the agency’s Environmental Justice Screening Tool, EJSCREEN, to help communities screen for potential risks.
Ultimately, EPA will start reporting risk information each year in its annual Air Trends Report. This will enable the public to gain more timely air quality information on air toxics, as well as see trends in emissions and risks over time.
EJSCREEN is an environmental justice mapping and screening tool that provides EPA with a nationally consistent dataset and approach for combining environmental and demographic indicators. EJSCREEN users choose a geographic area; the tool then provides demographic and environmental information for that area. All of the EJSCREEN indicators are publicly-available data. EJSCREEN simply provides a way to display this information and includes a method for combining environmental and demographic indicators into EJ indexes.
The EPA is proposing a federal plan that would cut pollution from power plants and industrial sources that significantly contribute to unhealthy levels of ground-level ozone, or smog, for millions of Americans who live downwind.
The U.S. EPA signed an amendment to the rule on February 28, 2022 that removes the stay of the formaldehyde limit for lean premix and diffusion flame gas-fired units that were constructed or reconstructed after January 14, 2003.
“What’s in my CPM?” Many compounds can condense and form particulate matter at ambient conditions. Identifying which compound is most prevalent can help in determining control measures to reduce CPM.
The EPA announced a new effort under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to modernize the process and bring innovative science to the review of new chemicals before they can enter the marketplace.