December 18, 2006

Volume 84, Number 51

p. 15

EPA

Change In The Air

Streamlined reviews of air quality standards will enhance role of political appointees

Cheryl Hogue

The Bush Administration is altering EPA's process for reviewing and setting health-based air quality standards. Critics say the new procedure, unveiled by EPA on Dec. 7, will diminish the role of agency scientists and boost political influence in the process.

EPA says it will begin following the new procedure over the next two years as it considers whether to eliminate a limit on lead in the air.

Under the Clean Air Act, every five years EPA is supposed to review the adequacy of nationwide standards for six major air pollutants: ground-level ozone, particulates, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and lead.

The process EPA used for decades to review the air quality standards was time-consuming. It maintained strict separation between agency scientists assessing health-related data and political appointees who decided whether and how to alter air pollution standards.

The new, streamlined review process eliminates preparation of a document by staff scientists in consultation with the agency's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. A staff paper, including science-based recommendations on whether to keep or tighten an air quality standard, used to be presented to EPA political appointees for consideration as they mulled over final policy decisions.

"The staff paper will be replaced with a more narrowly focused policy assessment that will connect the agency's scientific assessment and the judgments the [agency] administrator must make in determining whether it is appropriate to retain or revise the standards," EPA said in a statement announcing the procedure.

The process will also add a layer of high-level political scrutiny to reviews of air standards. EPA's policy assessment documents must pass inspection by the White House Office of Management & Budget before they are released to the public.

EPA's change was immediately criticized by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who will head the Environment & Public Works Committee in the next Congress. "EPA has taken a dangerous turn. Instead of basing health standards on the best science, they will now inject politics into the decisions," Boxer said.

Chemical & Engineering News

ISSN 0009-2347

Copyright © 2008 American Chemical Society