EPA rules San Antonio in attainment for ground-level ozone

On April 30, 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule that directs key aspects of the implementation of the 2008 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone. The EPA set those final standards at 0.075 parts per million (ppm) on March 12, 2008.

San Antonio was deemed “unclassifiable/attainment”. As such, we remain the largest city in the US still in attainment for this standard.

EPA uses the following five categories to classify areas determined to be in “nonattainment” for ground level ozone.  These are: Marginal, Moderate, Serious, Severe, or Extreme. This classification of areas is based on the severity of their ozone problem. Under this graduated system, nonattainment areas with the worst air quality will have both the longest time to meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards and the largest set of mandatory planning and emissions control requirements.

Enter your zip code to see the current air quality and additional environmental information pertinent to your neighborhood.

For more on this, please click on http://www.epa.gov/groundlevelozone or contact Nick Page, MPO Air Quality/Environmental Planner, at 230-6901 or page@sametroplan.org.