We will seek federal funding to establish a PM2.5 monitoring system in Washington and to evaluate the data that will be collected in order to understand what the sources of this pollutant are. Research projects have measured PM2.5 in Spokane and Seattle and indicate that those areas may be able meet that standard, but since EPA may establish different technical monitoring methods than have been used in those studies we cannot draw conclusions. There is concern that some areas may require increased efforts to remain within the new PM2.5 standards, but whether this is so will be borne out by monitoring data. Washington is ahead of many other states on particulate matter due to initiatives such as our wood stove program, emission checks for diesel vehicles and the various outdoor burning programs. Particulate matter means microscopic particles, such as soot, smoke, dust, liquid droplets and other matter.
Ozone means ground-level ozone, a harmful pollutant.
This is different from ozone in the upper atmosphere where it benefits all life by filtering out harmful solar rays. The standard for coarse particles remains essentially unchanged, while a new standard for fine particles will be set at an annual limit of 15 micrograms per cubic meter, with a 24-hour limit of 65 micrograms per cubic meter. Ozone For ozone, the recommended final standard will be updated from 0.12 parts per million of ozone measured over one hour to a standard of 0.08 parts per million measured over eight hours, with the average fourth highest concentration over a three-year period determining whether an area is out of compliance. Although the law requires EPA to set air quality standards that, above all, protect the public health, the agency has developed a plan for affordably meeting the new standards through common sense measures. Along with these final standards for ozone and particulate matter, EPA will issue an implementation package designed to give states, local governments and business the new flexibility they'll need to meet protective public health standards in a reasonable, cost-effective way.