The air quality readings in the State of New Jersey during the past summer were the best during the last ten years. Air quality trends are assessed by measuring the level of certain pollutants in the air for which the United States Environmental Protection Agency ("USEPA") has instituted federal health standards. These pollutants include carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, particulates, sulfur dioxide and ozone. Air quality levels differ according to variations in the weather and in the types and amounts of pollution released into the air during a specific period. On September 1, 1998, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection ("NJDEP") announced that the State exceeded the federal standards for air quality on only four days during the summer, which commonly is the worst season for one of these pollutants, ground level ozone. Ground level ozone, a noxious form of oxygen and the main component of smog, is formed when volatile organic compounds such as gasoline fumes, pollutants from paints, solvents and industrial sources, and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) combine in the atmosphere when the air temperature is warm. The relatively minimal number of violations of the ground level ozone standard constitutes a 90% drop in New Jersey's exceedances over the past decade.
Nevertheless, the State failed to consistently meet the new, more stringent standard for air quality set last year by the USEPA, which restricts emissions to 80 parts per million ("ppm") over an eight hour period, as contrasted with the previous federal standard of 120 ppm over a one hour period. New Jersey air was found to have concentrations of ground level ozone above the tougher USEPA standard in at least 42 incidents this past season.
In compliance with the federal Clean Air Act, Commissioner of NJDEP Robert Shinn submitted a plan to USEPA detailing the process by which New Jersey will meet the one hour standard for ground level ozone by 2005 in southern New Jersey and by 2007 in the northern region of the State. In the interim, the Department is conscious of the need to disseminate air quality information to the public and, to that end, has put a "hot button" on its web page which will give the most current air quality readings throughout the State. These readings, which are both county and town specific, are updated hourly. The NJDEP Bureau of Air Monitoring may be accessed at: http://www.state.nj.us/dep/airmon/.
