The board may recommend to the Legislature reasonable standards, in this chapter called "ambient air quality standards," within a reasonable air quality region regulating and limiting the amount and types of air contaminants which may exist in the ambient air of the region. The standards shall be designed to preserve or enhance the quality of ambient air within the region and to prevent air pollution. The board shall determine by rule the extent to which those standards apply within those areas to which the public does not have general access.   [PL 1989, c. 144, §1 (AMD).]

Prior to recommending ambient air quality standards, the board shall offer an opportunity for a public hearing and shall give public notice of its intent to recommend standards for the region in accordance with the Maine Administrative Procedure Act, Title 5, chapter 375.   [PL 1989, c. 144, §1 (AMD).]

The board shall solicit and consider all available information concerning the existing quality of the ambient air within the region; the recreational, industrial and residential uses of land within the region; the effects of existing air contaminants and air pollution upon the uses; the availability and effectiveness of air pollution control apparatus designed to control and reduce the existing air contaminants and air pollution; the expense of purchasing and installing the same, and such other evidence as in the board's judgment will enable it to recommend to the Legislature standards necessary to prevent air pollution within the region.   [PL 1989, c. 144, §1 (AMD).]