Air Quality Planning and Standards
Outreach Resources
Annual Reports | Publications | References
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ANNUAL REPORTS
- Air Quality and Emissions Trends Report
This annual publication describes trends in emissions and air concentrations for ozone, particulate matter and other common pollutants during the past ten years and assesses the current status of our nation's air quality. Reports are available online for several years.
PUBLICATIONS
- Air Quality Guide
for Ozone - 2008
This guide provides you with information about ways to protect your health when ozone levels reach the unhealthy range, and ways you can help reduce ozone air pollution.
PDF version (2pp, 910k)
In Spanish
- Air Quality Index - A Guide to
Air Quality and Your Health (PDF) (12pp, 629k) - August 2009
This booklet explains EPA's Air Quality Index (AQI) and tells you about the health effects of major air pollutants.
- Evaluating Exposures
to Toxic Air Pollutants: A Citizen's Guide - 1991
Toxic air pollutants can increase the chance of health problems and cause ecological impacts. This brochure from EPA's Air Risk Center discusses the process used to determine how much of a toxic air pollutant people are exposed to and how many people are exposed.
- Haze
- How Air Pollution Affects the View (PDF) (2pp, 432k) - April 1999
This two-page pamphlet gives a general description of what regional haze is, where it comes from, and what is being done to reduce it. For additional information, see EPA's Visibility website.
- Ozone - Good Up High Bad Nearby - 2003
Ozone acts as a protective layer high above the earth, but it can be harmful to breathe. This publication provides basic information about ground-level and high-altitude ozone.
PDF version (2pp, 1.1 MB)
- Ozone and Your
Health (PDF) (2pp, 2.5 MB) - Feb 2009
This short, colorful pamphlet tells who is at risk from exposure to ozone, what health effects are caused by ozone, and simple measures that can be taken to reduce health risk.
- The Plain English
Guide to the Clean Air Act - Updated 2007
A brief introduction to the 1990 version of the Clean Air Act, to help you understand what is in the law and how it may affect you.
- Regional
Haze and Visibility Protection: Clearing the Air and Improving
the View - 1999
A 1999 publication including an overview of visibility impairment, its causes, and the regional haze program.
- Risk Assessment
for Toxic Air Pollutants: A Citizen's Guide - 1991
Risk assessment is the process used to estimate the risk of illness from a specific human exposure to a toxic air pollutant. This brochure from EPA's Air Risk Center gives an overview of the 4-step assessment process.
- Smog - Who
Does it Hurt? - 1999
This 8-page booklet provides more detailed information than "Ozone and Your Health" about ozone health effects and how to avoid them.
PDF version (10pp, 274k)
In Spanish (PDF) (10pp, 267k)
- Taking Toxics Out of the Air - Progress
in Setting "Maximum Achievable Control Technology" Standards
Under the Clean Air Act - 2000
EPA is mandated by the Clean Air Act to significantly reduce daily, so-called "routine" emissions of toxic air pollutants. This document discusses the problem of air toxics, and describes the individual standards EPA has issued to reduce air toxic emissions from industries such as chemical manufacturing and petroleum refineries.
PDF version (34pp, 951k)
REFERENCES
- AP-42
(Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors)
The Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors, AP-42, is the authoritative source of information for estimating emissions of air pollutants from industrial, commercial, and residential sources. This page contains links to PDF and WordPerfect versions of each of the AP-42 chapters, as well as a link to OAQPS contacts for AP-42.
- The Green Book
Extensive information about nonattainment areas and National Ambient Air Quality Standards for the six criteria pollutants.
- Health Effects Notebook for Hazardous Air Pollutants - Here you can obtain fact sheets that give detailed information about the effects on human health of substances defined as hazardous by the 1990 amendments of the Clean Air Act. There's also an explanation of topics and terms used in the fact sheets.