The Clean Air Act of 1990 identifies 6 common pollutants ("criteria pollutants"):
*Ground-level ozone is a major problem in Rhode Island. Everyone can do something about it. Read more....
**Fine Particulate Matter includes dust, ash from all kinds of combustion, volcanic eruptions, etc.
A second group of pollutants are Toxics, which cause health problems such as cancer, e.g., benzene.
General Outdoor Air Information Sources:
- EPA Air page
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- American Lung Association - State of the Air
- US Fish & Wildlife Service - National Wildlife Refuges
- US National Park Service
- World Health Organization
RI Outdoor Air Quality Information Sources:
- [Outdoor] Air Quality Index: A Guide to Air Quality and Your Health
- RI Forecast (showing today and the next two days). DEM provides a daily Ozone forecast from April through September
and a daily Fine Particle forecast all year round. - RI Outdoor Air Quality Now (Data from RI DEM Office of Air Resources). There are data for Providence, Narragansett, and West Greenwich.
- RI DEM Air Quality on Facebook
- RI DEM on Twitter (many tweets on air quality)
- RI Department of Health Air Pollution Laboratory
- RI 2015 Annual Monitoring Network Plan and Five-Year Network Assessment
- Air Quality at TF Green Airport has also been conducted for several years and was extended for two more years in 2015. See the 2008 Final Report and the RI Airport Corporation Air Quality Monitoring Plan (April 2015). The Warwick Beacon (9/9/2014) published a letter from Richard Langseth, "RIAC canaries in the coal mine," connecting high rates of cancer among airport neighbors to TF Green air pollution.
- Standards and Regulations
- Enforcement, Compliance, and Inspection
