Breaking News: Revised Ozone Standard Announced by U.S. EPA
On March 12, 2008, United Stated Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) Administrator Stephen Johnson announced that U.S. EPA has revised the primary and secondary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone. The new primary standard is an eight-hour standard of 0.075 ppm. The secondary standard is the same as the primary. The new standards will become effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. Compliance with the revised standard will be determined as it is for the current eight-hour standard (i.e., three-year average of the 4th highest 8-hour average for each year). U.S. EPA is also making corresponding changes in the Air Quality Index (AQI) to reflect the new primary standard.
U.S. EPA plans to: (1) propose a rule by June 2008 to address monitoring which will be 
necessary to comply with the new ozone standards and (2) finalize the rule by March 2009. States are required to submit attainment designation recommendations to U.S. EPA in one year. U.S. EPA is required to promulgate final attainment designations one year after that unless there is insufficient data to make the designations, in which case final designations must be made within the next year. States must submit their State Implementation Plans (SIPs) describing how they will meet the revised standards three years after final designations are made (approximately March 2013 or 2014). Attainment with the standard must be achieved by varying deadlines depending on the severity of ozone nonattainment in each area.
Introducing ALL4’s Ambient Group
ALL4 is pleased to introduce the ALL4 Ambient Group. The Ambient Group performs two of ALL4’s existing services: (1) air quality dispersion modeling and (2) ambient & meteorological monitoring. The Ambient Group will focus on how these areas impact the permitting issues and business concerns of our clients.
ALL4 continues to see the increased role that air quality dispersion modeling and ambient & meteorological monitoring plays in our day-to-day air quality operations. The Ambient Group continues to grow and focus on modeling and monitoring issues. ALL4 believes that a well defined and robust Ambient Group will provide value to our clients by uniquely addressing their environmental issues.
Look for periodic regulatory and technical updates in 4 The Record from the ALL4 Ambient Group, comparable to this month’s “New Meteorological Data Requirements for AQ Modeling” article (found below).
Our approach is to function as part of our clients’ environmental staff and provide them with 5:01 Environmental Compliance. 5:01 Environmental Compliance is the ability for our clients to leave work on time at the end of the day without environmental worries. With our involvement, no details are overlooked and we become part of our client’s environmental team. We do it with our people. At ALL4, we provide:
• Confidence for Today – by having a passionate team of engineers, scientists and meteorologists with over 250 years of collective experience. We are industry experts, ex-regulators, and life-long environmental consultants committed to our clients’ environmental compliance.
• Security for Tomorrow – by understanding the regulations, providing continuity among our clients’ environmental staff, and developing a relationship where we can provide upfront, honest assessments of issues. We also have active participation in regulatory and policy decision-making groups with the long-term objective of our clients in mind.
• Vision for the Future – by understanding our clients’ industry and being proactive in the long-term production plans of the facility. We have multiple clients who we have relationships spanning over 15 years.
ALL4’s attention to the most challenging environmental issues impacting today, tomorrow, and the future, has enabled our clients to live with 5:01 environmental compliance allowing them to leave work on time at the end of the day without environmental worries and having ALL4 functioning as part of their environmental staff.
