On November 21, 2011, the DEQ Director submitted updated air quality designation recommendations for Virginia for the 2008 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  These recommendations denote the status of areas in the Commonwealth that are or are not in compliance with the new standard based direct monitoring and/or indirect evidence.  In summary, one area was identified by the DEQ as not meeting the new standard at the present time.  This area is:

• Northern Virginia  (Arlington County, Fairfax County, Loudoun County, Prince William County, City of Alexandria, City of Fairfax, City of Falls Church, City of Manassas, and City of Manassas Park)

On December 9, 2011, EPA notified Virginia that it intends to support Virginia’s recommended nonattainment area designations and boundaries for Northern Virginia, which is part of the Washington D.C.-MD-VA area.  EPA also intends to designate the remaining counties, cities and areas in Virginia that are not listed above as “unclassifiable/attainment” for the 2008 ozone NAAQS.

On February 7, 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a rule that would take a necessary step to implement the 2008 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone.  The following link contains a chronological listing of all regulatory actions related to designations for the 2008 ozone standards:

http://www.epa.gov/ozonedesignations/2008standards/regs.htm