H.R. 10525: Tropospheric Ozone Research Act of 2026

This bill would direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create a competitive grant program to fund research on tropospheric ozone—ozone found in the lower atmosphere—and how it affects the climate.

What the program would do

After money is appropriated, the EPA would have 90 days to set up the grant program. The program would give grants to eligible research organizations, including:

• colleges and universities,
• national laboratories, and
• other nonprofit research groups with relevant expertise.

The funded research would focus on several topics, including:

• how tropospheric ozone affects global temperatures, regional temperatures, and heat stress;
• how emissions of ozone-forming pollutants can increase or reduce those effects;
• how tropospheric ozone interacts with other air pollutants;
• natural factors that affect ozone, such as lightning and stratospheric ozone;
• how elevated ozone affects crops, forests, and ecosystems;
• how to improve climate and air-quality models so they better account for ozone; and
• how to expand ozone monitoring, especially in rural, agricultural, and other understudied areas.

Monitoring and data sharing

The bill would require that data collected through the monitoring-related research be made publicly available. It also calls for better use of ground-based monitoring, satellite data, aircraft measurements, and standardized data systems.

How future impacts would be studied

The EPA would be expected to support research that looks at both:

• current ozone conditions, and
• future ozone levels under different scenarios, including cases where pollution trends continue or where emissions are reduced.

The future-focused research would also consider how climate changes like wildfires, higher temperatures, changing wind patterns, humidity, stagnant air, and lightning could affect ozone levels.

Reports and deadlines

Grant recipients would have to submit annual reports to the EPA, and those reports would also be made public.

Within 4 years after the program is created, the EPA would have to submit a broader report to Congress and make it public. That report would summarize findings and recommendations about:

• ozone’s contribution to global warming and local heat stress;
• impacts on crops, forests, ecosystems, and health;
• options for reducing specific ozone precursor emissions;
• the costs and benefits of those options; and
• further research and data needs.

Funding

The bill authorizes:

• $10.5 million per year for fiscal years 2027 through 2029, with $10 million for grants and $500,000 for administration and oversight; and
• $1 million for fiscal year 2030, for preparing the EPA’s required report.

Relevant Companies

• None found