An official website of the United States government.

This is not the current EPA website. To navigate to the current EPA website, please go to www.epa.gov. This website is historical material reflecting the EPA website as it existed on January 19, 2021. This website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work. More information »

Ground-level Ozone Pollution

2008 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) Section 176A Petitions

Final Action
On October 27, 2017, EPA denied a petition from Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont under section 176A(a) of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The petition asks the EPA to add Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia and a portion of Virginia to the Ozone Transport Region (OTR), alleging that these states significantly contribute to violations of the 2008 ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) in the OTR. 
Proposed Action
On January 11, 2017, EPA proposed to deny the petition from Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont under section 176A(a) of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

Proposed Response to December 9, 2013, Clean Air Act Section 176A Petition From Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont

Public Hearing

EPA will hold a public hearing on this proposed response on: April 13, 2017 at the EPA, William Jefferson Clinton East Building, Room 1153, 1201 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004.  EPA expects the last registered speaker to present testimony at approximately 1:30 pm. In addition, the comment period has been extended to May 15, 2017.

Rescheduled public hearing and comment period extension notice in the Federal Register.

Initial Public hearing and comment period extension notice.  (The hearing referenced in this notice was rescheduled in response to a winter storm.  See above for rescheduling notice.)
 
 
You may need a PDF reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA’s About PDF page to learn more.