This week, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt issued a memorandum outlining a new, condensed timeline for review and establishing the EPA National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone and particulate matter.  Under the revised process, EPA would combine the Integrated Scientific Assessments, the Risk Assessment and the Staff Policy Assessment document into a single step, accelerating the decision-making process to significantly reduce opportunity for comment from the scientific and public health community.  The new policy also introduces questions of cost and technical feasibility into the standard-setting discussion, in violation of the statutory language of the Clean Air Act. 

Unlike proposed regulations which require public notice and comment, this new NAAQS process is effective immediately and, if implemented as planned, will result in review and consideration of both the ozone and particulate matter standards by December 2020.