This story was updated at 4:54 p.m. EDT.
EPA has pushed ahead with retroactive changes to years’ worth of soot monitoring data in a step that could make it easier for some areas to meet a recently strengthened exposure standard for the dangerous pollutant.
The revised readings for hundreds of monitors made by Teledyne Technologies are now available in EPA’s Air Quality System, according to a memo signed Monday. Because agency staff had previously found those monitors erroneously showed soot concentrations as higher than they actually were, the new readings offer an improved view of air quality in many areas.
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At the federal level, the move is unprecedented.
