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ExpectMore.govExpectMore.gov home pageEXPECT FEDERAL PROGRAMS TO PERFORM WELL, AND BETTER EVERY YEAR.
 
Program Assessment

Program

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Toxic Air Pollutants - Regulations and Federal Support

The program reduces emissions of toxic air pollutants by establishing and reviewing technology-based regulations for mobile and stationary sources. The program also collects information about exposure to air toxics and provides tools and compliance assistance to State, tribal, and local air pollution control agencies.

Rating

What This Rating Means

PERFORMING
Adequate

This rating describes a program that needs to set more ambitious goals, achieve better results, improve accountability or strengthen its management practices.
  • EPA is the only agency to develop national regulations for industrial and mobile sources of air toxics, and there is a clear purpose and design for the program. People exposed to toxic air pollutants at sufficient concentrations and durations may have an increased chance of getting cancer or experiencing other serious health effects.
  • EPA has some regulatory flexibility but does not collect sufficient information to show that it maximizes net benefits. Though the current regulatory structure has proven to be more effective than the program established by the 1970 Clean Air Act, the underlying statute is not designed to produce benefits in excess of costs.
  • There are data gaps for toxicity and actual population exposure, making it difficult for the program to demonstrate actual risk reduction. New toxicity-wieghted measures should enable year-to-year comparisons and help make program results more meaningful.

Improvement Plan

About Improvement Plans

We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:

  • Designing regulations that minimize the cost per adverse health effect avoided.
  • Improving monitoring systems to fill data gaps and get a better assessment of actual population exposure to toxic air pollution.

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