Abstract
ABSTRACTOver the past several decades, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) has monitored air quality in urban, suburban, and rural locations across the state. Such data are used to determine compliance with national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), as well as track the effectiveness of pollutant emission controls. This paper summarizes the changes in gas-phase criteria and related pollutants on an annual, seasonal and diurnal basis across New York, USA. Annual average and peak concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2) have decreased by 50% or more since 1980 across New York, generally consistent with anthropogenic emissions reductions across different source sectors over the past 35 years. At the same time, annual average concentrations of the secondary pollutant ozone (O3) appear flat or are increasing even though peak daily 8-hour concentrations have declined. This pollutant will likely remain a challenging public health issue for the foreseeable future.
Highlights
The Clean Air Act (CAA) of 1970 and subsequent Amendments in 1990 required the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to establish and review National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for pollutants considered harmful to human health and the environment
The broad source categories shown in these figures are fuel combustion (FC) from both electricity generating unit (EGU) and non-EGU sources; industrial processes (IP) including chemical, petroleum, and metalsrelated processing; transportation (TR) including on-road and off-road vehicles; and other/miscellaneous (MI) sources including agricultural activities and solvent use
It is generally accepted that there is more confidence in the emissions from the power generation sector of the National Emissions Inventory (NEI) compared to other sectors, that emission estimation methodologies have changed over the years, and that new source categories can be added to emission inventories, making it difficult to quantitatively attribute changes in long-term air quality to changes in emissions (e.g., Xing et al, 2013; Hidy et al, 2014)
Summary
The Clean Air Act (CAA) of 1970 and subsequent Amendments in 1990 required the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to establish and review National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for pollutants considered harmful to human health and the environment. Federal programs including the Acid Rain Program (ARP), Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR), and NOx Budget Trading Program (NBP), as well as New York’s own State Acid Deposition Control Act (SADCA) and Acid Deposition Reduction Program (ADRP), have led to sharp declines in nitrogen oxides (NOx = nitric oxide (NO) + NO2) and SO2 emissions from the power sector. This in turn has led to significant
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