The first Mobile Source Air Toxics Peer Exchange Meeting was held on October 5-6, 2006, in Monticello, Illinois.

On February 3, 2006 the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued Interim Guidance to advise state Department of Transportation (DOT) on when and how to analyze Mobile Source Air Toxics (MSAT) in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for highway projects.

Air toxics is an emerging area that receives more and more attention-from transportation/environmental agencies, academic researchers, and the public because of potential health issues, and uncertainties with modeling and the science behind MSAT.  Currently 188 air toxics are identified in the Clean Air Act as hazardous air pollutants.  Among them, twenty-one are labeled as MSAT by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  In particular, six of the twenty one MSATs are priority MSATs. They are benzene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, diesel particulate matter/diesel exhaust organic gases, acrolein, and 1,3-butadiene.

There are many MSAT challenges including, no regulatory concentration standards set up for the six MSATs.  Based on this, the FHWA has issued Interim Guidance in 2006. As the science progresses, FHWA will update the MSAT guidance.  Given many uncertainties with the new guidance that is still evolving, it was proposed by Walt Zyznieuski at the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to convene a meeting from the six Midwestern states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin) to discuss both the technical and practical issues/uncertainties emerged from the new MSAT guidance and exchange ideas and experiences in documenting MSATs in the NEPA documents.  The participants of the meeting are from state DOT’s, FHWA, US EPA Region V, and Illinois EPA.

Agenda

Location

Transportation

Speakers

Reports

Reimbursement

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Acknowledgements