Federal Standard Area Designations

This page last reviewed May 21, 2012

WHAT'S NEW


On May 24, 2012, the Air Resources Board will consider approving a revision to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) to address attainment of the federal lead standard in the South Coast Air Basin portion of Los Angeles County. This is the only area in California designated as nonattainment for lead. The SIP revision must be submitted to U.S. EPA by June 30, 2012. Additional information about this item is found on ARB's South Coast Plans webpage.


On April 30, 2012, U.S. EPA issued final area designations and classifications for the 2008 (0.075 ppm) 8-hour ozone standard. The designations include two new nonattainment areas -- Eastern San Luis Obispo County and the Tuscan Buttes area of Tehama County. The area designations and classifications will be effective July 20, 2012. 


On March 20, 2012, U.S. EPA took action to retain the current secondary ambient air quality standards for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2). Additional information is available on U.S. EPA's website.


Background
The Federal Clean Air Act requires the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) to set national ambient air quality standards (federal standards). The federal standards are further categorized as primary standards and secondary standards. The primary standards are meant to protect public health, whereas the secondary standards are meant to protect the public welfare from any known or anticipated adverse effects.  

A complete and current list of federal standards can be found on the U.S. EPA website. A list of nonattainment areas can also be found on the U.S. EPA website.


Pollutant-Specific Activities
OZONE FEDERAL STANDARD

In March 2008, U.S. EPA revised the 8-hour ozone standard (Federal Register Notice published March 27, 2008; Final Rule effective May 27, 2008).

ARB staff submitted initial area designation recommendations in March 2009. EPA delayed implementation of the standard and after reconsideration, invited states to submit revised area designation recommendations, based on more recent data. ARB staff submitted revised recommendations on October 12, 2011. Both the initial and the revised submittal packages and U.S. EPA's response are available on the U.S. EPA website.

On April 30, 2012, U.S. EPA issued final area designations and classifications for the 2008 8-hour ozone standard. The designations include two new nonattainment areas -- Eastern San Luis Obispo County and the Tuscan Buttes area of Tehama County (Federal Register Notice for area designations published May 21, 2012;  Federal Register Notice for area classifications published May 21, 2012; Both Final Rules are effective July 20, 2012).     

In addition to issuing final area designations for the 2008 ozone standard, U.S. EPA issued a Final Rule on April 27, 2012, to reclassify Subpart 1 areas under the 1997 8-hour ozone standard (Federal Register Notice published May 14, 2012; Final Rule effective June 13, 2012).



More information about activities related to the federal ozone standard can be found on the U.S. EPA website.


SULFUR DIOXIDE PRIMARY FEDERAL STANDARDS

In June 2010, U.S.EPA revised the primary sulfur dioxide (SO2) standards (Federal Register Notice published June 22, 2010; Final Rule effective August 23, 2010). 

ARB staff submitted area designation recommendations on June 20, 2011. The full submittal package is available via the following links: 


Additional information about activities related to SO2 can be found on U.S. EPA's SO2 home page.
          
           

NITROGEN DIOXIDE PRIMARY FEDERAL STANDARDS

In January 2010, U.S. EPA revised the primary nitrogen dioxide (NO2) standards (Federal Register Notice published February 9, 2010; Final Rule effective April 12, 2010).

ARB staff submitted recommended area designations on January 24, 2011. The full submittal package and U.S. EPA's response are available on the U.S. EPA website.

U.S. EPA issued final area designations in January 2012 (Federal Register Notice published February 17, 2012; Final Rule effective February 29, 2012).

Additional information about activities related to NO2 can be found on U.S. EPA's NO2 home page.        
      


SULFUR DIOXIDE & NITROGEN DIOXIDE SECONDARY FEDERAL STANDARDS

In March 2012, U.S. EPA took final action to retain the existing SO2 and NO2 secondary standards (Federal Register Notice published April 3, 2012; Final Rule effective June 4, 2012).

Additional information about activities related to the secondary standards can be found on U.S. EPA's NO2/SO2 secondary standards webpage.
 
 
LEAD FEDERAL STANDARD

In October 2008, U.S. EPA revised the primary lead standard (Federal Register Notice published November 12, 2008; Final Rule effective January 12, 2009)

ARB staff submitted recommended area designations on October 14, 2009. The full submittal package and U.S. EPA's response are available on the U.S. EPA website.

U.S. EPA issued its initial set of final area designations on November 16, 2010 (Federal Register Notice published November 22, 2010; Final Rule effective December 31, 2010).

U.S. EPA issued a second set of final area designations on November 8, 2011 (Federal Register Notice published November 22, 2011; Final Rule effective December 31, 2011).

On May 24, 2012, the Air Resources Board will consider approving a revision to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) to address attainment of the federal lead standard in the South Coast Air Basin portion of Los Angeles County. This is the only area in California designated as nonattainment for lead. ARB will submit the SIP revision for lead to U.S. EPA by the June 30, 2012, deadline. Additional information about this item is found on ARB's South Coast Plans webpage. ARB previously submitted a SIP revision addressing the infrastructure requirements for lead. The Lead Infrastructure SIP is also available on the web.

Additional information about activities related to lead can be found on U.S. EPA's lead home page.
PM2.5 FEDERAL STANDARDS

In December 2006, U.S. EPA strengthened the 24-hour PM2.5 standard from 65 ug/m3 to 35 ug/m3 (Federal Register Notice published October 17, 2006; Final Rule effective December 18, 2006).

ARB staff submitted recommended area designations for the revised standard in December 2007; additional information was submitted in 2008. These nonattainment area recommendations were based on 2004 through 2006 monitoring data, and the submittals are available on the U.S. EPA website. 

Final area designations were based on 2005 through 2007 monitoring data (Federal Register Notice published November 13, 2009; Final Rule effective December 14, 2009).

Additional information about activities related to PM2.5 can be found on both the ARB website and the U.S. EPA website.
Contact Information

Comments and questions related to PM may be sent to:

Ms. Theresa Najita
(916) 322-7297

Comments and questions related to all other air pollutants may be sent to:

Ms. Marcella Nystrom
(916) 323-8543
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