San Antonio: Current Attainment Status

San Antonio Area Attainment Status by Pollutant

*The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revoked the one-hour ozone standard in all areas, although some areas have continuing obligations under that standard. See ozone history for more information.

**Standard will be revoked one year after the effective date of final designations for the 75 ppb standard.

San Antonio Attainment Areas

2008 Eight-Hour Ozone Standard Designations: Attainment/Unclassifiable, effective July 20, 2012 (77 FR 30088)  
On March 27, 2008, the EPA lowered the primary and secondary eight-hour ozone NAAQS to 0.075 parts per million (ppm) (73 FR 16436).  Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, and Wilson Counties were designated attainment/unclassifiable under the 2008 eight-hour ozone NAAQS, effective July 20, 2012.   

1997 Eight-Hour Ozone Standard Designations:  Attainment, April 2, 2008 (73 FR 1789) 
Counties: Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, Wilson

On November 17, 2004, the commission adopted revisions to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the Austin, San Antonio and Northeast Texas Early Action Compact (EAC) areas and 30 TAC 114 and 115 . The San Antonio EAC SIP Revision consists of an eight-hour ozone attainment demonstration for the area based on the local plan submitted to the TCEQ in March 2004 under its EAC.

National Ambient Air Quality Standards

The EPA has set National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for six principal criteria pollutants: ground-level ozone, lead, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter. 

No later than one year after promulgation of a new or revised NAAQS for any pollutant, the governor must submit designation recommendations to the EPA for all areas of the state. The EPA must then promulgate the designations within two years of promulgation of the revised NAAQS. Areas that do not meet (or contribute to ambient air quality in a nearby area that does not meet) the NAAQS are designated nonattainment. Areas that meet the NAAQS are designated attainment; and areas that cannot be classified based on the available information, unclassifiable.

For ozone, the Federal Clean Air Act establishes nonattainment area classifications ranked according to the severity of the area’s air pollution problem. These classifications—marginal, moderate, serious, severe, and extreme—translate to varying requirements with which areas must comply in order to meet the ozone standard.