Department of Environment & Conservation
Robert Martineau, Commissioner

Because much of our air pollution comes from local sources, county and municipal governments must take a leadership role in addressing our air quality challenges.

Significant portions of the state's population are exposed to unhealthy air quality at least part of the time. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designates an area as nonattainment if it has violated or has contributed to violations of the national ambient air quality health standards (NAAQS) for one of six . The designation process plays an important role in letting the public know whether air quality in a given area is healthy. Once designations take effect, they also become an important component of state and local governments' efforts to control air pollution.

Impacts of nonattainment

Nonattainment designation has a variety of impacts on a region, including

Air quality that is unhealthy at least part of the time

A negative image for the community and a discouraging impact on tourism

Barriers to economic development

Local economic impacts, including lost jobs, increased business operating costs, reduced worker compensation, decreased industrial output and increased municipal expenditures for road cleaning and air quality monitoring

More stringent air quality permits to limit the amount of pollutants emitted into the air

for new or expanding facilities

Transportation conformity to ensure that transportation projects do not make air quality worse

Restrictions on the ability to use federal transportation funds for highway projects that create additional capacity

The Clean Air Tennessee web site is intended to provide local leaders with information and tools to help you design strategies to reduce local air emissions and improve air quality. Additional resources will be added as the site grows. Please contact us and let us know what additional information would be helpful to you, or if you have information that you would like to share with other local leaders.