New Hampshire Air Resources Division

Achieving and maintaining air quality in New Hampshire that is protective of public health and our natural environment. Congress designed the Clean Air Act (CAA) to protect public health and welfare from different types of air pollution caused by a diverse array of pollution sources. The CAA assigns the primary responsibility for air pollution control to state and local governments. Many of the day-to-day regulatory functions and contact with sources of air pollution in NH occurs at the state level under provisions of the New Hampshire state implementation plan (SIP) and state statutory authority. Initially, state implementation plans were the mechanism by which states set emission limits and allocated pollution control responsibility among sources to meet the limits on ambient concentrations of criteria pollutants. This was accomplished through a process that involved collecting emission inventory, monitoring ambient pollutant concentrations, modeling emissions to determine reductions needed to attain the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) and imposing appropriate emission limits on new and existing industrial sources. These functions continue today but after the CAA Amendments of 1977 and 1990, the responsibilities broadened to also include implementation of many specific technology-based emission standards, permitting of sources, collection of emission report and fees, coordination of air quality planning with highway and mass transit planning, and prevention of significant deterioration of air quality.