Air Quality
Breathe Easy in the Roanoke Region
The entire Roanoke Region is currently in attainment for all criteria pollutants monitored by the EPA. This important status
represents substantial savings in both money and time as you work to establish your business in the Roanoke Region.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classifies the air quality of each county in the United States as either meeting federal standards (i.e. “attainment”) or not (i.e. “non-attainment”). Significant industrial facilities locating in a non-attainment area often face a longer permitting process. In many cases, facility managers must invest in additional pollution control technologies thus increasing the capital costs required to establish operations.
Air quality has steadily improved in the Roanoke Region. The chart below shows the number of times the region has exceeded the ozone standard in an eight-hour period each year since 1998.
