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Massachusetts Expected to Achieve Attainment with the Fine Particle Air-quality Standards

Release Date: 06/28/04
Contact Information: Contact: David Deegan, 617-918-1017

For Immediate Release: June 28, 2004; Release # 04-06-31

Boston - EPA analysis of air quality indicates that Massachusetts has ambient concentrations of fine particles that meet current health standards.

Fine particles, frequently referred to as PM2.5, are less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (in comparison, a human hair is 70 microns in diameter). Fine particles are unhealthy to breathe and have been associated with serious health impacts, including premature death from heart and lung disease, aggravation of heart and lung diseases (including chronic bronchitis and asthma), increased hospital admissions and doctor visits, and absences from work and school. These particles are derived from a variety of sources, including factories, power plants, trash incinerators, motor vehicles, construction activity and fires. In addition, fine particles are the major cause of reduced visibility (haze) in parts of the United States, including many of our national parks.

"We can be proud that air quality in most of New England attains the health-based standard for fine-particle pollution," said Robert W. Varney, Regional Administrator of EPA's New England Office. "However, we need to ensure that standards continue to be attained and that, especially in urban areas, we continue efforts to reduce the amount of fine particles in the air that people breathe."

Varney also noted that, "At a national level, EPA is taking numerous actions to reduce pollution from fine particles, including tougher emission limits for power plants in the eastern U.S. and tougher tailpipe emission limits and cleaner fuels for all cars, light-duty vehicles (including sport utility vehicles and minivans) and diesel trucks, beginning this year. In addition, EPA recently issued its Clean Air Nonroad Diesel Rule that will cut emission levels from construction, agricultural and industrial diesel-powered equipment by more than 90 percent."

Even though Massachusetts will not be required to develop plans to bring their states into attainment with the standards, New England will benefit from programs in predominantly upwind states to reduce their fine-particle levels. Some of the same pollutants that contribute to the formation of fine particles also contribute to formation of ground-level ozone, regional haze, and acid rain, all of which have serious environmental consequences for New England.

EPA is also announcing today that new grants will be available to New England states to update and improve the network of monitors used to measure fine particle concentration. This network is needed to measure progress in maintaining standards, and to provide real-time data so that EPA can alert the public when fine particle concentrations are high in any area of the New England region. During 2003, EPA New England awarded $822,000 in operating funds and in-kind services to Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection for operation of its fine particle monitors and is in the process of awarding a similar amount for 2004. For Massachusetts, EPA's 2004 grant funds will provide for operation and maintenance of 19 fine particle monitoring sites, where the state operates filter-based samplers, continuous monitors or speciation samplers.

EPA issued the fine particle standards in 1997 after evaluating hundreds of health studies and conducting an extensive peer review process. The annual standard is a level of 15 micrograms per cubic meter, based on the 3-year average of annual mean PM2.5 concentrations. The 24-hour standard is a level of 65 micrograms per cubic meter, determined by the 3-year average of the annual 98th percentile concentrations.

Massachusetts has taken a number of actions to reduce the pollutants that form PM2.5 including stringent controls on power plants, its inspection and maintenance program for both gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles, anti-idling efforts, and retrofits for existing diesel vehicles such as school buses, construction equipment and passenger locomotives.

Some of the programs that states can pursue to reduce pollutants that form PM2.5 include retrofitting engines in school buses, diesel trucks, and off-road vehicles; reducing sulfur levels in diesel and home-heating fuels, increasing anti-idling efforts and vehicle opacity testing, better enforcement of existing laws, and educational outreach.

Monitoring data collected around New England shows there has been a significant drop in pollutants associated with fine particles from the 1980s to the present. Reductions are the result of various measures by EPA and the states to curb fine-particle-forming pollutants such as sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and carbon from power plants, cars, trucks, buses and other sources. Still, in 2003, there were 20 days in New England when some part of the region experienced unhealthy fine-particle concentrations.

For more information on today's announcement, visit the following agency web site at https://www.epa.gov/pmdesignations/ .

Related Information:
Air Quality Index
Air Quality Web Site
Asthma
Diesel Exhaust
Air Enforcement