Tribal Air Quality Monitoring
Tribes have express authority under the Clean Air Act and the Tribal Authority Rule to manage air quality in Indian country. EPA provides technical assistance and resources to help tribes build their program capacity. It is important to note that air quality monitoring serves a different purpose than an emission inventory. Air quality monitoring samples the air to measure which pollutants are present and in what amounts, but does not tell where the pollutants are coming from. An emission inventory tells a tribe what sources are emitting which pollutants into the air. These documents provide guidance to tribes and EPA Regional Offices on how to develop and implement tribal air monitoring programs on tribal lands.
- Guidance and Policy for Implementation of Tribal Air Monitoring Programs (pdf)
- Technical Guidance for the Development of Tribal Air Monitoring Programs (pdf)
- Options Available for Tribes to Meet Independent Performance Evaluation Requirements for the Ambient Air Monitoring Programs Collecting Data for Comparison to the NAAQS (pdf)