Read the full story from U.S. EPA.
EPA’s Science to Achieve Results Program (STAR) awarded over $4 million to seven universities to advance air measurement and monitoring methods for air toxics and contaminants of emerging concern in the atmosphere.
Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), often referred to as air toxics, are a subset of air pollutants known or suspected to be acutely toxic or cause chronic human health effects, or to have adverse environmental and ecological effects. Contaminants of emerging concern are chemicals that are not commonly monitored in the environment but are present in the environment and have the potential to cause adverse human health or environmental effects. These air contaminants tend to pose greater risks in urban areas because these areas have large populations and a higher concentration of emission sources, and there is extensive evidence that minority and low-income communities are disproportionally burdened with exposures to air toxics.
The goals of this research portfolio include advancements in measurement techniques that will support state, community and Tribal air monitoring efforts to reduce exposures to air toxics and emerging contaminants of concern and to address environmental justice issues; and improved source measurement methods that can be used to quantify emissions, develop emissions inventories, inform the development of effective emission control strategies, and ultimately improve public health.
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