Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Act

EPACAA 112b U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Act 112b Chemical... 

Environmental Protection Agency, Clean Air Act, History of the Clean Air Act, http // www.epa.gov/air/caa/caa history.html (last visited April 3, 2009). 

In the United States, the Clean Air Act of 1970 imposed limitations on composition of new fuels, and as such methanol-containing fuels were required to obtain Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) waivers. Upon enactment of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977, EPA set for waiver unleaded fuels containing 2 wt % maximum oxygenates excluding methanol (0.3 vol % maximum). Questions regarding methanol s influence on emissions, water separation, and fuel system components were raised (80). 

In the United States, the Clean Air Act of 1990 requires plants to reduce emissions of 189 toxic and carcinogenic substances such as chlorine, chloroform, and 2,3,7,8-TCDD (dioxin) by 90% over the 1990s. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is working to develop standards based on maximum achievable control technologies and the industry has invested bUHons of doUars in capital investments to retrofit or rebuUd plant equipment to meet these measures. 

The two main federal agencies involved in the protection of human health and the environment are the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). EPA s principal concern is the protection of the environment, in most cases, the area outside of an industrial faciUty. There are 10 regional offices that carry out the regulatory functions of the agency (Table 1). Primary laws covered by EPA are the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and LiabiUty Act (CERCLA), Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), and Eederal Insecticide, Eungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). 

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 put a heavy burden on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state agencies to permit and oversee compliance with the Clean Air Act (CAA). Table 24-1 lists the major deadlines affecting industry under the 1990 amendments. Some of the deadlines have already passed without any action" being promulgated and finalized. The other deadlines may also slip to a later date. Almost no statutorv "hammers" have been included in CAAA90. 

Effective with the 1982 model year, particulate matter from diesel vehicles was regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the first time, at a level of 0.37 gm km . Diesel vehicles were allowed to meet an NO level of 0.93 gm km under an Environmental Protection Agency waiver. These standards were met by a combination of control systems, primarily exhaust gas recirculation and improvements in the combustion process. For the 1985 model year, the standards decreased to 0.12 gm of particulate matter per kilometer and 0.62 gm of NO per kilometer. This required the use of much more extensive control systems (1). The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (2) have kept the emission standards at the 1985 model level with one exception diesel-fueled heavy trucks shall be required to meet an NO standard of 4.0 gm per brake horsepower hour. 

United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1990 Clean Air Act, Washington, D.C., 1990. 

The Clean Air Act is the comprehensive Federal law that regulates air en stationary, and mobile sources. This law authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to protect public health and the environment. The goal of the Act was to set and achieve NAAQS in every state by 1975. This ng of maximum pollutant standards was coupled with directing the states to develop state... 

Air pollution in the United States is regulated at federal, state, and local levels. Allowable concentrations of the major air pollutants are set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the auspices of the Clean Air Act. States and localities implement pollution control plans in accordance with the provisions of the Clean Air Act in regions where air pollutant concentrations exceed the federal standards. Some states and localities have air pollution standards of their own, and in the past, such standards have occasionally been more stringent than those of the EPA. 

The Clean Air Act of 1970 set new standards that went beyond the capabilities of the then existing technology, and spurred a very intensive research effort. The Clean Air Act also called for a study by the National Academy of Sciences of the technological feasibility of meeting the emission standards. On April 11, 1973 William D. Ruckelshaus, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, announced a delay in enforcing the 1975 standard by one year, to be replaced by an interim standard for California and a more relaxed interim standard for the rest of the forty-nine states. 

FIGURE 7.3 In 1984, 14 years after the passage of the Clean Air Act, significant areas of the United States were still in violation of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone. Courtesy, Environmental Protection Agency. 

U.S. EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). 1992. Reference Guide to Odor Thresholds for Hazardous Air Pollutants Listed in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. EPA/600/ R-92/014. Air Risk Information Support Center, EPA, Washington, DC. 

The US Environmental Protection Agency recently announced its intention to develop and implement new Clean Air Act Standards for industrial coatings operations within the next year. These emission standards will eventually require companies involved in fabric printing, coating and dyeing operations to comply with Maximum Achievable Control standards. The Hazardous Air Pollutants emission limits that will apply to facilities and the impact on fabric coating operations are discussed. USA... 

The US Supreme Court has ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency must base Clean Air Act regulations on science, not costs, and has remanded the agency s ozone standard, finding its interpretation of that part of the statute faulty and unreasonable. Responses from tyre industry spokespersons are discussed, with particular reference to compliance costs. 

EPA 2000. Guidance for Implementation of the General Duty Clause Clean Air Act Section 112(r)(l). EPA 550-B00-002. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. May. 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Progress in the Prevention and Contrd of Air Pollution in 1973. Annual Report of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to the Congress of the United States, in Compliance with the Clean Air Act as Amended, January 1974. pp. 41-64. 

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