Air Toxics of Concern
	State Maps
	County Risk Ratio Tables

To determine whether the concentrations of air toxics estimated in USEPA’s 1999 National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) could be a potential human health problem in New Jersey, NJDEP compared the NATA air concentrations to their chemical-specific health benchmarks. To do this, we divided the modeled air concentration by the health benchmark concentration to get a number we call a risk ratio. If the risk ratio for a specific chemical is less than one, the air concentration should not pose a health risk. If it is greater than one, it may be of concern. The risk ratio also shows just how much higher or lower the estimated air concentration is than the health benchmark. For more information, see How We Estimate Risk from Air Toxics.

New Jersey’s methods for estimating risk using the 1999 NATA results are somewhat different from USEPA’s methods.  Therefore, risk results presented here are different from the risk estimates found on the USEPA NATA web site.  For a discussion of these differences, What's Different about 1999 Nata?

Results of NJDEP’s risk assessment are presented two ways:

• State Risk Maps
  
• County Risk Ratio Tables

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THE 22 AIR TOXICS OF GREATEST CONCERN IN NEW JERSEY

Our analysis of the state and county average air toxics concentrations generated by NATA indicates that 22 of the pollutants were predicted to exceed their health benchmarks in one or more counties in 1999. 21 of these are cancer-causing (carcinogenic) chemicals, and one (acrolein) is not carcinogenic. Predicted concentrations of these pollutants vary around the state, depending on the type of sources that emit them. This is summarized in the table below. For more information click on point, area, and mobile sources, and background concentrations.

1999 NEW JERSEY CHEMICALS OF CONCERN

The following chemicals that USEPA included in the 1999 NATA modeling are of concern in New Jersey, because their modeled average ambient concentrations are above their health benchmarks in a county or across the entire state.

1999 CHEMICALS OF CONCERN IN NEW JERSEY

Pollutant Number/Name of Counties Above Health Benchmarks Primary Emissions Source Acetaldehyde 21 Onroad, background Acrolein 21 Mobile, area Arsenic Compounds 4 (Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Gloucester) Major, area Benzene 21 Mobile Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate 21 Background 1,3-Butadiene 21 Onroad, background Cadmium Compounds 1 (Warren) Area Carbon Tetrachloride 21 Background Chloroform 20 Area, background Chromium VI 14 Area 1,4-Dichlorobenzene 4 (Atlantic, Essex, Hudson, Passaic) Area 1,3-Dichloropropene 1 (Hudson) Area Diesel Particulate Matter 21 Mobile Ethylene Dibromide 21 Background Ethylene Dichloride 11 Background Ethylene Oxide 2 (Hudson, Warren) Area Formaldehyde 21 Mobile, background Methyl Chloride 21 Background Naphthalene 14 Area Nickel Compounds 1 (Camden) Area, major Perchloroethylene 10 Area, background 1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane 21 Background

* For more information on which areas are impacted by the chemicals of concern, see the chemical-specific maps below.

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MAPS SHOWING THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE 1999 AIR TOXICS OF CONCERN IN NEW JERSEY

To see a state map showing the spatial variation in modeled air concentrations for one of the twenty-two chemicals of concern, click on the chemical name:

For information about using Health Benchmarks, click here

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COUNTY RISK RATIO TABLES

To see a statewide or county -specific table containing the 1999 NATA-predicted air concentrations, health benchmarks, risk ratios, and source category contributions for each of the 22 air toxics of concern, click on the state name or county names below.

In Each Table: