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Key Scientific and Policy- and Health-Relevant Findings from EPA's Particulate Matter Supersites Program and Related Studies: An Integration and Synthesis of Results.
Citation:
SOLOMON, P. A., P. K. HOPKE, J. Foines, AND R. SCHEFFE. Key Scientific and Policy- and Health-Relevant Findings from EPA's Particulate Matter Supersites Program and Related Studies: An Integration and Synthesis of Results. JOURNAL OF THE AIR & WASTE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION. Air & Waste Management Association, Pittsburgh, PA, 58(13):S-1 - S-92, (2008).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory′s (NERL) Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division (HEASD) conducts research in support of EPA′s mission to protect human health and the environment. HEASD′s research program supports Goal 1 (Clean Air) and Goal 4 (Healthy People) of EPA′s strategic plan. More specifically, our division conducts research to characterize the movement of pollutants from the source to contact with humans. Our multidisciplinary research program produces Methods, Measurements, and Models to identify relationships between and characterize processes that link source emissions, environmental concentrations, human exposures, and target-tissue dose. The impact of these tools are improved regulatory programs and policies for EPA.
Description:
In 1998, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initiated a major air quality program, known as the Particulate Matter (PM) Supersites Program. The Supersites Program was a multi year, $27 million air quality monitoring program consisting of eight regional air quality projects located throughout the U.S., each with differing atmospheric pollution conditions resulting from variations in source emissions and meteorology. The overall goal of the program was to elucidate source–receptor relationships and atmospheric processes leading to PM accumulation on urban and regional scales, and thus, provide the scientific underpinning for modeling and data analysis efforts to support State Implementation Plans and more effective risk management approaches for PM. The program had three main objectives: 1) conduct methods development and evaluation, 2) characterize ambient PM, and 3) support health effects and exposure research. This paper provides a synthesis of key policy-relevant, scientific findings from the Supersites Program and related studies. EPA developed sixteen science/policy-relevant questions in conjunction with state agencies, Regional Planning Organizations, and the private sector. These questions were addressed to the extent possible, even given the vast amount of new information available from the Supersites Program, in a series of papers published as a special issue of JAWMA (February, 2008). This synthesis also includes discussions of: a) initial Supersites Program support for air quality management efforts in specific locations throughout the U.S.; b) selected policy-relevant insights, based on atmospheric science findings, useful to air quality managers and decision makers planning emissions management strategies to address current and future PM NAAQS and network planning and implementation; c) selected health-relevant findings interpreted from atmospheric sciences findings in light of future directions for health and exposure scientists planning studies of the effects of PM on human health; and d) selected knowledge gaps to guide future research. Finally, given the scope and depth of research and findings from the Supersites Program, this paper provides a reference source so readers can glean a general understanding of the overall research conducted and its policy-relevant findings. Supporting details for the results presented are available through the cited references. An annotated table of contents allows readers to find easily specific subject matter within the text.
