The Government this week announced the review of standards to see if they are realistic, but Green Party co-leader Russel Norman says that means it intends to weaken or delay them.
Environment Minister Nick Smith said air quality standards needed to be "practical and achievable" and 10 cities and towns, including Auckland and Christchurch, were unlikely to meet the standards, set in 2005, by the 2013 deadline.
The Otago council made changes to its air plan last year to work bettertowards meeting the standards.
It also implemented a Clean Heat, Clean Air programme to provide assistance towards the purchase and installation of insulation and clean heating appliances in its worst affected towns.
Mr Martin said Otago had made good progress towards reducing air pollution in its "domestic airshed one" towns, such as Alexandra and Arrowtown, but there was still more work to do.
If the deadlines were to be extended, they needed to be "relatively modest" extensions, he said.
"We knew for the communities affected it would be a hard road . . . but we have good momentum. We don't want to lose that momentum or lose those gains."
The ORC did have an issue regarding commercial operators being penalised if standards were not met by 2013, as in Otago businesses were moving towards good practice, he said.
A technical advisory group would review the national environmental standards for particulate air pollution under the Resource Management Act.
Dr Smith said the review delivered on a pre-election promise and on concerns raised at the recent Jobs Summit.
"We are at the halfway mark between when the standards were set in 2005 and when they must be complied with by 2013, so it makes good sense to review progress," he said in a statement.
"Air quality is critical to New Zealanders' health and our clean green reputation. We are committed to ongoing improvements but want to ensure we have the policy and timetable right."
Industry and employment could be damaged if consents were not renewed or issued because of failure to meet standards, Dr Smith said.
"The review needs to look at whether it is fair to solely punish industry for non-compliance when the overwhelming pollution is caused by home fires and, to a lesser degree, vehicles.
It will also look at the costs and benefits of the air standard and the optimal timetable for achieving improvements."
The review also needed to take into account the Government's plan to subsidise home insulation and clean heating, he said.
But Dr Norman cast doubt on the Government's motives.
"It sounds like they are planning to weaken them [standards] or delay them," he said.
"You've got regional councils who just haven't got it together, because this isn't new, it's no surprise, and they just didn't get it together to start to phase out polluting home heating. And traffic is the other issue."
