Section 243.102  Preamble

a)         Air quality standards are limits on atmospheric concentrations of air contaminants established for the purpose of protecting public health and welfare.  The levels of air quality designated by the standards are designed to protect against injury to human, plant or animal life and they are further intended to allow maximum enjoyment of life and property consistent with the intent of the Act.

b)         The first use of our air resources is to sustain life.  Air entering the respiratory tract must not menace health.  Therefore, the air quality standards set must, as a minimum, provide air which will not adversely affect, through acute or chronic symptoms, the health of the community.  Adverse health effects include not only the possible production and aggravation of disease, but also interference with bodily functions.  The standards have also taken into account soiling, corrosion, vegetation damage and other human effects.

c)         Primary ambient air quality standards define levels of air quality which are necessary, with an adequate margin of safety, to protect the public health.  Secondary ambient air quality standards define levels of air quality which are necessary to protect the public welfare from any known or anticipated adverse effects of a pollutant.

d)         The standards are more than goals.  They are legally enforceable limitations, and any person causing or contributing to a violation of the standards is subject to enforcement proceedings under the Act.  The standards have also been designed for use as a basis for the development of implementation plans by State and local agencies for the abatement and control of pollutant emissions from existing sources, and for the determination of air contaminant emission limitations to insure that population and economic growth trends do not add to the region's air pollution problems.