Air Toxics in the U.S.: Magnitude of the Problem and Strategy for Control

1990 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
D. Kent Berry
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Clean Air Act ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Air Toxics ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Status ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
The U.S

Over the past several years, substantial concern has been expressed by some in Congress, environmental groups, and members of the public concerning the lack of progress in regulating toxic air pollutants by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As a result, a number of amendments to the Federal Clean Air Act have been introduced to require EPA to regulate in a relatively rapid timeframe, a large number of potentially toxic pollutants that are released to the ambient air. This paper discusses EPA's current understanding of the magnitude and nature of the air toxics problem in the U.S., and the pollutants and source categories that pose the most significant risk to the public. The focus of the discussion is on routine releases, as opposed to catastrophic, accidental releases such as the one in Bhopal, India. The paper then discusses the strategy that EPA has put in place to deal with the problem and presents the status of a number of regulatory and non-regulatory activities under way to better understand the problem and to mitigate it. The strategy involves important roles for: (1) EPA to regulate national problems using a variety of Federal authorities in addition to the Clean Air Act, and (2) States to develop their own air toxic control programs to deal with unique local problems involving high risk point sources and multipollutant, multisource problems in large urban or industrialized areas.

scholarly journals Trends in precipitation chemistry across the U.S. 1985–2017: Quantifying the benefits from 30 years of Clean Air Act amendment regulation

2021 ◽  
Vol 247 ◽  
pp. 118219
Author(s):  
Michael R. McHale ◽  
Amy S. Ludtke ◽  
Gregory A. Wetherbee ◽  
Douglas A. Burns ◽  
Mark A. Nilles ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clean Air Act ◽  
Precipitation Chemistry ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Clean Air Act Amendment ◽  
The U.S

scholarly journals Effectiveness of SOx, NOx, and Primary Particulate Matter Control Strategies in the Improvement of Ambient PM Concentration in Taiwan

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 460
Author(s):  
Jiun-Horng Tsai ◽  
Ming-Ye Lee ◽  
Hung-Lung Chiang
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Model Simulation ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Clean Air Act ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Control Plan ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Pm2.5 Concentration

The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) measurement was employed for evaluating the effectiveness of fine particulate matter control strategies in Taiwan. There are three scenarios as follows: (I) the 2014 baseline year emission, (II) 2020 emissions reduced via the Clean Air Act (CAA), and (III) other emissions reduced stringently via the Clean Air Act. Based on the Taiwan Emission Data System (TEDs) 8.1, established in 2014, the emission of particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) was 73.5 thousand tons y−1, that of SOx was 121.3 thousand tons y−1, and that of NOx was 404.4 thousand tons y−1 in Taiwan. The CMAQ model simulation indicated that the PM2.5 concentration was 21.9 μg m−3. This could be underestimated by 24% in comparison with data from the ambient air quality monitoring stations of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (TEPA). The results of the simulation of the PM2.5 concentration showed high PM2.5 concentrations in central and southwestern Taiwan, especially in Taichung and Kaohsiung. Compared to scenario I, the average annual concentrations of PM2.5 for scenario II and scenario III showed reductions of 20.1% and 28.8%, respectively. From the results derived from the simulation, it can be seen that control of NOx emissions may improve daily airborne PM2.5 concentrations in Taiwan significantly and control of directly emitted PM2.5 emissions may improve airborne PM2.5 concentrations each month. Nevertheless, the results reveal that the preliminary control plan could not achievethe air quality standard. Therefore, the efficacy and effectiveness of the control measures must be considered to better reduce emissions in the future.

Valuing Clean Air

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Halvorson
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Environmental Concern ◽  
Clean Air Act ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
Elected Officials ◽  
Liberal State ◽  
Monetary Approach ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Roll Back

The passage of the Clean Air Act and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970 marked a sweeping transformation in American politics. In a few short years, the environmental movement pushed Republican and Democratic elected officials to articulate a right to clean air as part of a bevy of new federal guarantees. Charged with delivering on those promises, the EPA represented a bold assertion that the federal government had a responsibility to protect the environment, the authority to command private business to reduce their pollution, and the capacity to dictate how they did so. But revolutions are always contested and the starburst of environmental concern that propelled the Clean Air Act and the EPA coincided with economic convulsions that shook the liberal state to its core. As powerful businesses pressed to roll back regulations, elected officials from both parties questioned whether the nation could keep its environmental promises. Pushing on, the EPA adopted a monetized approach to environmental value that sat at odds with environmentalist notions of natural rights but provided a critical shield for the agency’s rulemaking, as environmental protection came to serve as a key battleground in larger debates over markets, government, and public welfare. The EPA’s success and the potential limits of its monetary approach are evident in the very air we breathe today—far cleaner and healthier as a result of the EPA’s actions, but holding new threats in a rapidly changing climate.

scholarly journals Risk and Technology in Air Toxics Control California and the Clean Air Act Amendments

Air & Waste ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 723-728 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie B. Ohshita ◽  
Christian Seigneur
Keyword(s):  
Clean Air Act ◽  
Air Toxics ◽  
Clean Air Act Amendments ◽  
Clean Air

AN ONGOING ASSESSMENT OF THE USE OF SPACE TECHNOLOGY IN MONITORING OIL SPILLS

1979 ◽  
Vol 1979 (1) ◽  
pp. 313-316
Author(s):  
William F. Croswell ◽  
John C. Fedors
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Coast Guard ◽  
Space Technology ◽  
Bureau Of Land Management ◽  
Space System ◽  
Use Of Space ◽  
The Status ◽  
The U.S

ABSTRACT The U.S. Congress has directed NASA to conduct an assessment of the potential use of space technology in the monitoring of oil spills and ocean pollution. As a result, laboratory studies, aircraft missions, and spacecraft studies are underway to perform this assessment with the cooperation of the U.S. Coast Guard, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing. Primary emphasis in the space system will be directed toward all-weather remote sensing and surveillance in which the space system would provide information to regulatory agencies for closer investigation with aircraft or ships. Laboratory and aircraft missions will be directed toward understanding and obtaining simultaneous microwave and optical imagery of oil spills on the sea with instruments of potential usefulness in the modeling of the movement of spills, along with detection and surveillance image definition. This paper summarizes the status of these efforts as of late 1978. Initial results of the required assessment should be available by the end of 1979.

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