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Lead in Air

Lead Implementation - Programs and Requirements for Reducing Lead

State Implementation Plans (SIPs)

Under the Clean Air Act (CAA), as amended in 1990, each state must develop a plan describing how it will attain and maintain the NAAQS.  In other words, how it plans to limit air pollutant emissions from industrial sources and continue to control emissions to protect human health and the environment.  This plan is called the State Implementation Plan (SIP) and is required under Section 110 of the CAA.  In general, the SIP is a collection of programs, including:

  • a monitoring program to collect actual measurements of air pollution
  • air quality calculations and computer modeling to predict trends and to see the effects of different strategies to reduce emissions
  • an emissions inventory, which is a database that lists, by source, the amount of air pollution released
  • proven effective and newly emerging control strategies to reduce emissions
  • formal adoption of measures (enforceable by EPA, states, and citizens) to be sure the necessary emissions reductions are achieved
  • periodic review to evaluate whether the needed reductions were achieved and whether the NAAQS levels remain protective of human health and the environment

The air quality agency responsible for the SIP (usually a state agency) must give the public an opportunity to review the plan before sending it to EPA for approval. In some cases where EPA finds that a SIP is not approvable,, EPA may issue and enforce a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) to ensure the NAAQS is met.

Lead SIP Toolkit

EPA has designed this toolkit to assist state, local, and tribal air quality agencies in developing plans to implement the lead standard. The "tools" in the toolkit identify guidance related to: 

 

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