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EPA Grant of $162,000 Will Fund Air Toxics Monitoring in Oklahoma

Media contacts: Jennah Durant or Joe Hubbard, [email protected] or 214 665-2200

DALLAS – (July 22, 2020) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently awarded the state of Oklahoma a grant of $162,000 for air toxics programs. The grant will fund the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality’s (ODEQ) efforts in supporting EPA’s National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) to study and characterize toxic air pollutants.

“EPA’s programs that monitor and control toxic air pollutants require strong partnerships, and ODEQ continues to provide that on behalf of the people of Oklahoma,” said Regional Administrator Ken McQueen. “Their monitoring program provides important data to inform state and local decision-making on air toxics safety.”

ODEQ will use the grant for its National Air Toxics Trends Stations (NATTS), which monitor ambient levels of toxic air pollutants. These pollutants, also called air toxics, are known or suspected to cause serious health effects such as cancer or birth defects. Oklahoma’s NATTS project supports the NATA program’s efforts to use monitoring data to identify areas of concern, characterize risk and track progress in improving air quality.

EPA is working with state, local, and tribal governments to reduce air emissions of 187 toxic air pollutants to the environment. Examples of air toxics include benzene, which is found in gasoline; perchloroethylene, which is emitted from some dry cleaning facilities; as well as dioxin, asbestos, toluene, and metals such as cadmium, mercury, chromium, and lead compounds. NATA is EPA’s ongoing review of air toxics in the United States. NATA’s results help state, local and tribal air agencies identify which pollutants, emission sources and places they may wish to study further to better understand any possible risks to public health from air toxics.

More about EPA’s work in Oklahoma: https://www.epa.gov/ok

More about NATA: https://www.epa.gov/national-air-toxics-assessment/nata-overview

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About EPA Region 6: https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/epa-region-6-south-central  

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