Overview
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's AirToxScreen, formerly known as National Air Toxics Assessment, is a screening tool developed by the Environmental Protection Agency to understand air toxics in the United States. ATS data was first published in 2017. The purpose of the tool is to share information about pollutants, emission sources and locations connected to air toxics. It uses modeled data to determine potential health risks, including population density and exposure, which help describe how someone experiences the air in their environment.
ATS data is reviewed by technical experts at the EPA and is published yearly. It is important to note that Oregon has protective levels for some air toxics that are different from EPA levels. In spite of this difference, the ATS assessment gives DEQ a better understanding of the air toxics concerns throughout Oregon, which does not currently have a state-based tool to model air toxics. ATS helps DEQ focus on which areas of the state it needs to gather more information about and which areas require more air toxics reduction strategies.
DEQ provides a summary of ATS data specific to Oregon to make the data more accessible to Oregon residents. The link shown below will take you to DEQ's 2017 AirToxScreen Summary Document. Summary documents for ATS data in 2018 and 2019 are in progress and will be posted here when complete.
AirToxScreen process
The EPA uses four steps to process toxics assessments across the US. For additional information on ATS and EPA methods for toxic assessment, please visit their AirToxScreen web page.
This tool:
- Compiles a national emissions inventory of outdoor air toxics sources.
- Estimates ambient concentrations of air toxics across the United States.
- Estimates population exposures across the United States.
- Determines potential public health risks from breathing air toxics.