API: No basis for EPA’s proposed short-term nitrogen oxide air quality standard

Judith Penniman | 202-682-8025 | pennimanj@api.org 

WASHINGTON, August 3, 2009 - The American Petroleum Institute today told the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that there is no scientific basis for its proposed short-term nitrogen oxide (NO2) national ambient air quality standard. In testimony at an EPA public hearing in Arlington, Virginia, Howard Feldman, director of Regulatory and Scientific Affairs, said API supports maintaining the current annual NO2 NAAQS of 53 parts per billion because it fully meets the requirement to protect public health.

”The oil and natural gas industry is helping the air get cleaner today and in the future”, Feldman said. “Approximately 57 percent of the industry’s $14 billion environmental expenditures in 2007 targeted air pollution abatement.” He also noted EPA’s own data continues to show that the air is getting cleaner, with the current standard being attained throughout the nation.

Feldman said the main issue of concern is that EPA bases their key conclusions on results of a new, unpublished meta-analysis that has not been peer-reviewed. This undocumented analysis does not satisfy EPA’s Information Quality Act requirement for transparency regarding data sources, assumptions employed, and methods used.

Feldman encouraged EPA to reassess its proposed rule to ensure that sufficient scientific analysis is undertaken.