EPA Nixes Petitions On New SO₂ Limit

EPA has rejected a request by industry groups and several states to reconsider the more stringent air-quality standard it issued last year for sulfur dioxide. In a notice published in the Federal Register on Jan. 26, EPA said the petitions failed to demonstrate that the new one-hour standard of 75 ppb is based on faulty research data. “EPA’s analysis of the petitions reveals that the petitions have provided inadequate and generally irrelevant arguments and evidence that the underlying information supporting the final revised SO₂ [standard] is flawed, misinterpreted, or inappropriately applied by EPA,” the agency said. EPA published the final one-hour air-quality standard for SO₂ last June, replacing a standard based on an annual average. EPA said the revised measure would better protect public health. When the new standard took effect in August, the American Chemistry Council and other industry groups joined Texas and the Dakotas in filing petitions challenging it.