EPA Watchdog Finds Oversight in Agency Ambient Air Monitoring

The Environmental Protection Agency may be relying on incomplete air quality data from ambient monitors that often fall offline, according to a report released by the agency inspector general Thursday.

When evaluating air quality at monitoring sites that run intermittently, the Office of the Inspector General found nearly 36% of those sites had worse air quality when they were offline than those operating daily.

That pollution gap may be occurring because regulated entities time their peak emission days to coincide with periods that monitors are offline, since the EPA makes those intermittent schedules public online, according to the report.

The ...