EPA Releases New Urban Air Toxics Strategy

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a new strategy to reduce toxic air emissions in urban areas across the country. The strategy centers on reducing risks created by individual polluters such as municipal landfills rather than overall reductions. The Integrated Urban Air Toxics Strategy issued July 7, 1999 identifies 33 of the 188 known air toxics as posing the greatest threat to human health and the environment. These include toxics such as benzene, mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls.

The EPA also identified several small urban sources of high-risk pollutants, including industrial sources such as gas stations and dry cleaners, and mobile sources such as cars and farm machinery. The list includes several newly identified polluters, including municipal landfills, hospital sterilizers and paint stripping operations. Thirteen new source categories and 16 already recognized pollutant sources have so far been identified in the strategy. Additional source categories will be listed over the next several years. Regulations will eventually mandate that 90% of emissions from all these sources must be controlled.

"The Clinton administration already has taken the most aggressive actions to reduce harmful levels of air pollution that threaten public health and the environment," said EPA Administrator Carol Browner. "We now will take the next step to protect the millions of people who live in areas where concentrations of toxic air pollutants are too high."

Over the next few months, as part of the strategy, the EPA will be studying the current risk of cancer and other health problems in areas across the country to establish a baseline measurement of risk. Once a baseline risk has been established, the strategy sets a goal of a 75% reduction in cancer risk, and a "substantial reduction" in risks of other health problems, including asthma and lung disease.

The strategy "is designed to characterize, prioritize and equitably address the serious impacts of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) on the public health and the environment through a strategic combination of regulatory approaches, voluntary partnerships, ongoing research and assessments, and education and outreach," according to the EPA.

Air toxics are produced from millions of sources and include heavy metals, volatile chemicals, combustion byproducts and solvents. The highest concentration of air toxics occurs in cities, making them a key area of concern. Air toxics have been linked to a wide range of human health problems such as cancer, birth defects, developmental delays and respiratory damage. In addition, the EPA reported that air toxics had significant adverse effects on wildlife reproduction, toxicity of aquatic plants and animals, and pollution in the food chain.

The strategy was developed in compliance with the Clean Air Act Amendment passed by Congress in 1990, which calls for the EPA to develop national standards for stricter air pollution control and evaluate toxics that affect urban areas, including some pollutants that have never been regulated. As of June, 1999, the EPA has issued 43 regulations for large industrial polluters that will reduce air toxics emissions by 1 million tons per year.

The EPA's current strategy for smaller polluters does not yet create new regulations, but is an outline for future actions. Barbara Driscoll, an EPA environmental scientist, reported that the EPA plans to mandate these regulations by 2004. Regulations for new source categories of high-risk toxics are planned to become effective by 2009.

In the coming months, the EPA will work with state and local governments to assess national risks from air toxics and to develop tactics for sharing these findings with the public. The EPA hopes to submit the second Integrated Urban Air Toxics Strategy Report to Congress in 2002 and to complete national and urban emissions assessments by 2003.

Washington, D.C.
July 12, 1999