Air Quality, Division of

The major goal of the Division is to ensure the air is clean, from both a public health and welfare perspective. Welfare impacts of air pollution include damage to plants and other property. Health effects can be short term (acute) or long term (chronic). The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adopts National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for the common air pollutants, and the states have the primary responsibility to attain and maintain those standards. NJDEP manages air quality with ambient air monitoring, inventories of sources, emission reduction plans, rules, permits, stack testing, air quality modeling and risk assessment, vehicle testing, inspections and enforcement.