State of California
                             AIR RESOURCES BOARD
                                
                   Yolo Room, Sacramento Convention Center
                        K Street Mall and 13th Street
                               Sacramento, CA
                                
                              November 3, 1975
                                 10:00 a.m.
                                
                                   AGENDA

75-21-1   Public Hearing - Reconsideration of the California
          Ambient Air Quality Standard for Lead.

75-21-2   Other Business
          a.   Executive Session - Personnel & Litigation
          b.   Research Proposals

75-21-3   Remarks from Audience.

                        ITEM NO.:  75-21-1

Reconsideration of the California Ambient Air Quality Standard
for Lead.

                          RECOMMENDATION

Based on staff and State Department of Health evaluation of
available information on the relationship between airborne lead
concentrations and health effects, there is no evidence to
recommend that the standard, 1.5 micrograms per cubic meter as a
30-day average, be changed.  Consider public hearing testimony on
this issue.

                             SUMMARY

Five petitioners have challenged the validity of the California
ambient air quality standard for lead.

The standard is frequently exceeded, especially in communities
with heavy traffic, and most of the lead in the air is in the
respirable particle size range.  Deposition of airborne lead
particles has produced substantial increases of lead in the
biosphere, especially in urban areas.

No thresholds have been established for the subtle and possibly
irreversible changes found to occur as a result of chronic
exposure to levels of lead above the air quality standard.  The
evidence in support of the air quality standard adopted in 1970
is much more substantial today.