Air risk assessments may result in actions that affect local citizens and businesses. For example, studies can lead companies to reduce emissions or switch to less toxic chemicals. Communities may take on voluntary pollution prevention initiatives. Governments may adopt rules.
IDEM uses study results for several purposes, including identifying areas that need further evaluation, encouraging businesses to maintain safe chemical levels in the environment, and identifying the need for regulations such as tighter restrictions on air toxics emissions from industrial sources.
Air risk assessments enable the identification of areas that may be affected by mobile sources including cars and diesel trucks, as well as actions for reducing releases of harmful compounds. At the national level, U.S. EPA may take action through its mobile source program, such as altering the required control technology for certain categories of vehicles, affecting citizens, businesses and state and local governments on a much larger scale. On the local level, changing a traffic light's timing may be a simple and effect way to reduce vehicle idling and reduce toxic emissions in a neighborhood.
Risk assessments are not limited to the study of air toxics. Studies may evaluate potential impacts to water quality, land, and areas that are in need of a clean-up.