Science Inventory

Description:

Legislative Requirements

Section 109, Title 42 (U.S. Code, 2003) directs the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator to propose and promulgate “primary” and “secondary” National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for pollutants listed under section 108. Section 109(b)(1) defines a primary standard as one “the attainment and maintenance of which in the judgment of the Administrator, based on such criteria and allowing an adequate margin of safety, are requisite to protect the public health.”¹ A secondary standard, as defined in section 109(b)(2), must “specify a level of air quality the attainment and maintenance of which, in the judgment of the EPA Administrator, based on such criteria, is required to protect the public welfare from any known or anticipated adverse effects associated with the presence of [the] pollutant in the ambient air.”.”² The requirement that primary standards include an adequate margin of safety was intended to address uncertainties associated with inconclusive scientific and technical information available at the time of standard setting. It was also intended to provide a reasonable degree of protection against hazards that research has not yet identified. See Lead Industries Association v. EPA, 647 F.2d 1130, 1154 (D.C. Cir, 1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1042 (1980); American Petroleum Institute v. Costle, 665 F.2d 1176, 1186 (D.C. Cir, 1981) cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1034 (1982). The aforementioned uncertainties are components of the risk associated with pollution at levels below those at which human health effects can be said to occur with reasonable scientific certainty. Thus, in selecting primary standards that include an adequate margin of safety, the Administrator is seeking not only to prevent pollution levels that have been demonstrated to be harmful but also to prevent lower pollutant levels that may pose an unacceptable risk of harm, even if the risk is not precisely identified as to nature or degree.

In selecting a margin of safety, the EPA considers such factors as the nature and severity of the health effects involved, the size of sensitive or vulnerable population(s) at risk, and the kind and degree of the uncertainties that must be addressed. The selection of any particular approach to providing an adequate margin of safety is a policy choice left specifically to the Administrator’s judgment. See Lead Industries Association v. EPA, supra, 647 F.2d at 1161-62.

In setting standards that are “requisite” to protect public health and welfare, as provided in section 109(b), EPA’s task is to establish standards that are neither more nor less stringent than necessary for these purposes. In so doing, EPA may not consider the costs of implementing the standards. See Whitman v. American Trucking Associations, 531 U.S. 457, 465472, 475-76 (U.S. Supreme Court 2001).

Section 109(d)(1) requires that “not later than December 31, 1980, and at 5-year intervals thereafter, the Administrator shall complete a thorough review of the criteria published under section 108 and the national ambient air quality standards…and shall make such revisions in such criteria and standards and promulgate such new standards as may be appropriate…” Section 109(d)(2) requires that an independent scientific review committee “shall complete a review of the criteria…and the national primary and secondary ambient air quality standards…and shall recommend to the Administrator any new…standards and revisions of existing criteria and standards as may be appropriate…” Since the early 1980s, this independent review function has been performed by the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) of EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB).

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1. The legislative history of section 109 indicates that a primary standard is to be set at “the maximum permissible ambient air level . . which will protect the health of any [sensitive] group of the population,” and that for this purpose “reference should be made to a representative sample of persons comprising the sensitive group rather than to a single person in such a group” [S. Rep. No. 91-1196, 91st Cong., 2d Sess. 10 (1970)]. (Tsai et al., 2006)
2. Welfare effects as defined in section 302(h) [42 U.S.C. 7602(h)] include, but are not limited to, “effects on soils, water, crops, vegetation, man-made materials, animals, wildlife, weather, visibility and climate, damage to and deterioration of property, and hazards to transportation, as well as effects on economic values and on personal comfort and well-being.”

Acronyms:

Title: Integrated Science Assessments (ISA) Legislative Requirements
Version: 1.0
Acronym: ISA
Acronym Meaning: ISA