EPA's air toxics study
Richard M . Dowd
Since late 1983, EPA has been preparing a report frequently called the "Six-Month Study on Toxic Air Pollutants." This effort resulted in a draft document entitled "The Magnitude and Nature of the Air Toxics Problem in the United States," which is presently undergoing peer review prior to official release. The report marks an important first attempt by the agency to produce an incisive, comprehensive review of toxic air pollution. Although it is presently available only in preliminary form, it has been widely read and has already been cited in one lawsuit against the agency. The report assembles in one place and makes an initial analysis of a large volume of information on toxic air pollutants: sources, pathways, exposures, health effects, and ambient concentrations. Although the information is wide ranging, it varies in quality. For example, while some estimates of point source emissions are based on current operations, others are out-of-date and do not give reliable estimates of source loadings to the atmosphere. There are almost no monitoring data available for some organics, whereas a fair amount of data on concentrations of certain elemental metals is available (about 170 counties had data on metals). Because of these weaknesses, only 18 pollutants have been thoroughly re0013-936X784/0916-0373AS01.50/0
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