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PHOENIX — New federal pollution regulations don't change the daily standard for coarse particles — the byproduct of roadway dust, construction and agriculture that is responsible for more high-pollution days than any other pollutant in Maricopa County.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decided against implementing a proposal that would have granted broad pollution exemptions to mining, agriculture and rural areas.

Maricopa County officials, who are working on a long-term cleanup plan after violating an EPA pollution-control deadline, said the exemptions would have severely limited their ability to control particulates.

The standards enacted Thursday are the EPA's first revisions to particulate limits since 1997. They address coarse particles between 2.5 and 10 micrometers in diameter, and fine particles 2.5 micrometers or smaller.

Maricopa County and parts of Pinal County are violating coarse particle limits, from dust kicked up by tires, construction and other sources.

The new rules don't change the amount of coarse particles that can be released into the air in the course of a day. Meeting the standard has been a problem for Maricopa County.

But the new rules drop altogether the annual limit on coarse particles, which determined how much pollution can be present each day on average throughout a year.

EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson said the agency had not found enough evidence linking long-term exposure to coarse particles to health problems. The rule goes into effect 60 days after it's published in the Federal Register.

The new standards also slash by nearly half the 24-hour limit on fine particles, from 65 micrograms per cubic meter of air to 35 micrograms.

Neither Maricopa County nor Pinal County has a problem with fine-particle pollution, mostly from combustion.

The EPA had put a review of Pinal County's air quality on hold while waiting to finalize the new particulate standards. Monitors in three different parts of the county exceed coarse-particle limits.

If the EPA rules Pinal doesn't match standards, then the county have 18 months report the source of the violations and a proposed fix. The EPA would then have up to two years to approve the plan.

Maricopa County already knows that it's going to fail a Dec. 31 deadline to clean up coarse particles, according to officials; the county will spend 2007 designing a cleanup plan.