Clean Air Act

Consequences of Air Pollution

The list goes on:

- Human Health Impacts

- Acid Rain

- Eutrophication

- Ozone Depletion

- Haze

- Adverse effects on Wildlife

- Global Climate Change

Challenges of Regulating Air Pollution

1. What to regulate?

2. How much to regulate?

3. Where to regulate

4. How to regulate?

What to Regulate?

Which pollutants to regulate? Should some receive greater priority than others?

How much to regulate?

What level of protection is needed? What about sensitive or susceptible populations? Should regulation be uniform or should we allow geographical heterogeneity?

Where to Regulate?

Should we regulate ambient air quality (where harm occurs) and/or emissions

How to Regulate?

What instruments or regulatory tools should we use? Should we treat all sources the same?

1880s-90s

Cities (Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh. etc.) passed ordinances to regulate emissions from smoke stacks. Ohio regulated smoke emissions from steam boilers.

1952

Oregon passed comprehensive air-pollution law (didnt elaborate)

1955

US enacted AIr-pollution control act, providing funding for research and authorizing surgeon general to investigate air pollution complaints

1960

US enacted Motor vehicle control act, authorizing additional research

1963

US enacted Clean Air Act which attempted to address air pollution but did not mandate pollution reduction and thus had little effect. The act has been amended several times siince then, creating the CAA as we know it today.

National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)

1st key component of CAA. An "ambient air quality standard" for a pollutant requires that the airborne concentration of the pollutant not exceed a specified level. "National" means that this concentration cannot be exceeded anywhere (uniform standard). CAA limits application to outdoor air to which public has access.

CAA Requires USEPA to

- Identify criteria pollutants (emitted from diversity of sources that are harmful to public health and the environment)

- Set and periodically (every 5 years) review NAAQS that "protect the public health" with an "adequate margin of safety" for the criteria pollutants

- To date, USEPA has established NAAQS for six criteria pollutants

Six Criteria Pollutants

carbon monoxide, lead, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulates. IF you meet the standards for these, you are in attainment, if not then you are not in attainment.

New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and Grandfathered Sources

CAA requires USEPA to set emission standards (NSPS) for pollutants from about 90 categories of new or modified stationary sources. The standards are technology based or based on currently available pollution abatement technologies. All new sources along with all existing source that undergo major modifications within one of the regulated categories must meet the applicable NSPS.

Major Modification

Any physical or operational change that would result in a "significant net increase in emissions". USEPA has established threshold values specifying when these net increase become significant for each criteria air pollutant.

In attainment

if you are in this region, you have to meet the Best Available Control Technology (BACT)

In non-attainment

If you are in this region, you have to meet the Lowest Achievable Emission Rate (LAER). This is more stringent than BACT

Trading

Opposition to environmental laws often centers around costs incurred by private entities in complying with the law. Economists have long suggested the use of economic incentives (taxes, subsidies, tradable permits) to reduce compliance costs

- Nobody likes taxes

- Subsidies are common in agriculture

-

Tradable Permits

In general:

- Determine acceptable level of pollution (the "cap")

- Allocate permits, representing the right to emit a specified level of pollution, that total to the cap.

- Allow permits to be traded (bought and sold)

- Polluters that can reduce pollution more cheaply reduce pollution and sell some or all of their permits to either higher-cost or new polluters

- Given amount of pollution reduction achieved at less cost

Bubbles

Allows a single facility with multiple sources of pollution and, thus, multiple pollution standards to

- Aggregate the standards to the plant level

- Allocate the aggregated standard among the sources so as to reduce abatement costs.

They have a total limit of pollution instead of regulations on each pollutant (a.k.a. they can exceed certain limits as long as whole is in regulated limit). It's called bubble because it is like creating an imaginary bubble over the facility and only regulating the total emissions from the bubble.

Netting

Applies the bubble concept to major modifications. The facility can avoid NSPS from major modification by reducing emissions from other sources within the facility. Thus, if no increase in emissions from the bubble, no NSPS

Offsets

Extends the bubble concept to an entire AQCR in non-attainment status. New source may not emit the pollutant for which the AQCR (air quality controlled region) is in non-attainment unless it can more than offest those emissions by (greater) reductions from existing sources in the AQCR. (There is no net increase in emissions, mostly a net decrease). This permits economic growth while preserving air quality.

Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) Allowance Trading

Initial reaction of coal-fired power plants in Midwest to implementation of SIPs was to build taller smokestacks. The pollution was carried away by wind, creating no net pollution in local area, but created acid rain in the Appalachian Mountains. CAA amendments required SIPs to address emissions from taller smokestacks and imposed uniform technology standard ("scrubbers") on new plants. Then, in 1990, the CAA created amendments in two phases.

Phase I of SO2 Allowance Trading

Required emissions reductions from the most polluting coal-fired electric generating units (almost all of which were located east of the Mississippi river due to higher levels of sulfur in coal from eastern US) (This level of detail is for understanding and will not be on the exam)

Phase II of CO2 Allowance Trading

(a level of detail for understanding and will not be on the exam)

Hotspots

When the rest of the country is getting cleaner because of trading, but there certain areas that are getting worse and worse.

Interstate Pollution

Past regulations were not controlling interstate pollution, so there was a CAA amendment in 1977. SIPs must control emissions that would cause non-attainment in other states. This permitted states to petition EPA if a major source in another state was causing non-attainment. However, the evidentiary burden was too great for this provision to be effective.

Interstate Pollution 1990 Amendments

SIPs must control emissions that "contribute significantly" to nonattainment or "interfere with maintenance" of NAAQS in another state. This eased the evidentiary burden

Toxic/Hazardous Air Pollutants

Substance that even in low concentrations can cause serious long-and short-term damage to human health and the environment

Toxic Pollutants: CAA (1970)

Directed USEPA to promulgate national emissions standards for HAPS (NESHAPS) Of the 200 hazardous pollutants, only 8 had been regulated by 1989 because of difficulty establishing standards that would protect public health with an ample margin of safety

Toxic Pollutants: 1990 CAA Amendments

Revised NESHAP program to require that new and major sources of 187 HAPs must meet maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards (Max degree of reduction achievable)

1970 Mandated Reduction of Leaded Gasoline

Amendments:

- Federal motor vehicle control program establishes tailpipe emissions standards for fuel evaporation, CO, Nitrous Oxides, volatile organic compounds and particulates

- Required cleaner fuels (Oxygenated gasoline). vapor recovery systems, and mandatory automobile inspection and maintenance in certain areas.

Technology-Forcing

The CAA required 90% reduction in VOCs and CO emissions by 1975 and 90% reduction in nitrous oxide by 1976 even though there were no commercially available technologies capable of achieving the reductions at the time (They thought they could innovate fast enough). The deadlines were eventually extended by Congress which were met in the 80s by the catalytic converter

Why National and not State standards for automobile emissions?

It is easier for companies to follow one set of guidelines for reducing emissions than 50 different levels of stringency and creating cars 50 different ways.

Energy Policy Conservation Act (1975)

Created mandate for fuel efficiency for vehicles. The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) and USEPA establish corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE). If they fail to meet the standard, they pay a penalty.

CAFE Standards

Average fuel economy for a manufacturers passenger cars and light trucks sold in the US for a model year.

Energy Independence and Security Act (2007)

Raised CAFE standards to combined average of at least 35 MPG by 2020 and required standards be met at max feasible levels through 2030. In 09, and agreement was made between Fed Gov, state regulators, and auto industry to increase CAFE and created GHG emissions standards.

Phase I GHG Emission Standards

250 grams per mile, on average, for MY2016 vehicles. The CAFE standards new vehicle average of 34.1 mpg in MY2016

Phase II GHG Emissions Standards

Average GHG emissions of 163 grams per mile in MY2025. which is equivalent to 54.5 MPG, if standards were met exclusively with fuel efficiency improvements