Clean Air Acts

The Clean Air Acts (1970, 1977, and 1990) initiated and then revised a variety of programs to reduce air pollution in the country. The acts require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set national health-based airquality standards to protect against ozone depletion, sulfur emissions, carbon monoxide, lead, and other air-borne pollutants. The 1990 revisions created the first attempt at market-based systems, POLLUTION RIGHTS, to address air pollution. According to former U.S. senator Edmund Muskie, “the Clean Air Act of 1970 defined the air pollution control program we have today. In the 1960s, air pollution was widely perceived as a Los Angeles smog problem. Earth Day occurred during the [1970] hearings. That summer, Washington suffered the worst and longest air pollution episode in its history. Three fundamental principles shaped the 1970 law ... protection of public health ... industry should be required to apply the best technology. American people deserved to know when they could expect their health to be protected.” The 1970 act established regulations of the auto industry and allowed citizens to file lawsuits against violators. The 1970 act and subsequent revisions have been controversial. Industry groups—including oil companies, coal producers, service station operators and land developers— have often opposed the acts. Various groups have intervened to delay and change Clean Air Act statutes. The acts require states to carry out most of the monitoring and permitting of air pollutants. States are required to develop implementation plans to meet the various criteria defined in the act. Through the EPA, the federal government provides research engineering designs and financial support for state implementation plans. Some of the specific measures in the Clean Air Act include
• Ozone. The 96 cities failing for ozone are ranked from marginal to extreme, with the more severe cases required to institute more rigorous controls but given more time to attain them. States may have to initiate or upgrade inspection/maintenance (I/M) programs, install vapor recovery at gas stations and otherwise reduce hydrocarbon emissions from small stationary sources, and adopt transportation controls that will offset growth in vehicle miles traveled. Major stationary sources of nitrogen oxides will have to reduce emissions.
• Carbon monoxide. The 41 cities failing for carbon monoxide are ranked moderate or serious. States may have to initiate or upgrade I/M and adopt transportation controls.
• Particulate matter. The 72 areas failing to attain for particulate matter (PM-10) are ranked moderate. States will have to implement reasonably available control technology (RACT), and use of wood stoves and fireplaces may have to be curtailed.
The Clean Air Amendments of 1977 primarily established federal standards for various pollutants and regulation of emissions through state implementation plans. The 1977 act also defined Class I, II, and III areas restricting particulate emissions in the most polluted (Class I) areas. The 1990 act required all air-pollution-control obligations of an individual source to be contained in a single five-year operating permit. States have three years to develop permit programs and submit them to the EPA, which has one year to issue regulations describing the minimum requirements for such programs. Sources must pay permit fees to the states to cover the costs of operating the programs. The 1990 act also addresses
• Vehicle emissions. Tailpipe emissions of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides were to be cut beginning with the 1994 model year, and standards would have to be maintained over a longer vehicle life. On-board charcoal canisters to absorb evaporative emissions may be required.
• Fuels. In 1995 reformulated gasolines having less aromatics were to have been introduced in the nine cities with the worst ozone problems; other cities could “opt in.” Beginning in 1992, oxyfuel gasolines blended with alcohol were to have been sold in winter in those cities having the worst carbon-monoxide problems.
• Clean cars. In 1996 a pilot program was introduce 150,000 cars to California that met tighter emission limits through a combination of vehicle technology and “clean” fuels (substitutes for gasoline or blends of substitutes with gasoline). Other states could “opt in.”
According to the 1990 act, emissions of 189 toxic pollutants— typically carcinogens, mutagens, and reproductive toxins—had to be reduced within 10 years. The EPA was to publish a list of source categories within one year and issue Maximum Achievable Control Standards (MACT) for each category over a specified timetable. Companies that initiated partial controls before the deadlines set for MACT could receive extensions. A two-phase, market-based system (pollution rights) was introduced to reduce sulfur-dioxide emissions from power plants. Electrical power plants account for approximately 70 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions. By the year 2000, total annual emissions were to be capped at 8.9 million tons, a reduction of 10 million tons from 1980 levels. Plants are issued allowances based on fixed emission rates set in the law and on their previous fossil-fuel use. Companies pay penalties if emissions exceed the allowances they hold. Allowances can be banked or traded. All sources are required install continuous emission monitors to assure compliance. The 1990 act was rooted in the MONTREAL PROTOCOL, an international air-pollution agreement for restrictions on the use, emissions, and disposal of chemicals. It phased out production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), carbon tetrachloride, and methyl chloride by 2000 and methyl chloroform by 2002; and it limited production of CFCs in 2015, phasing them out in 2030. Companies servicing air conditioning for cars were required to purchase certified recycling. The act mandated warning labels on all containers and products (e.g., refrigerators, foam insulation) that enclose CFCs and other ozone-depleting chemicals. The Clean Air Acts have significantly impacted business in the United States and air quality in the country. According to the Clean Air Trust, a nonprofit organization established by former U.S. senators Edmund Muskie (Maine) and Robert Stafford (Vermont), the Clean Air Acts have been a “tremendous success.” Lead emissions have been reduced by 98 percent primarily through removal of lead from gasoline in 1978. Emissions of sulfur dioxide (acid rain) and carbon monoxide emissions both decreased by 37 percent between 1987 and 1996. Businesses have been required or motivated through pollution rights to change technology, production methods, disposal practices, and emissions levels. Changes in automobile technology, emissions from production processes, and smokestack emissions are examples of business responses to Clean Air act requirements. While not all goals have been achieved, as Senator Muskie stated, “[I]t was an ‘experimental law.’ It used innovative approaches to achieve the desired results on a more timely basis than provided under any previous law.”