Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act

The Clean Air Act was originally passed in 1963 and was primarily a source of government funding for air pollution control. A follow-up law in 1965, the Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act, regulated the emissions from new vehicles and was the first action taken by the government to control air pollution. The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970 and 1977 established what we now consider to be the true goals of the CAA. 

We live in a new environmental era. The number and complexity of environmental regulations have grown dramatically in the past two decades and will continue through the turn of the century. In the United States, the first environmental regulation affecting the quality of air came with the Federal Air Pollution Control Act of 1955, then with the Clean Air Act of 1963. The subsequent ones include the Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act of 1965, the Air Quality Act of 1967, and the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970. 

The U.S. Clean Air Act (CAA) was first enacted by Congress in 1963 [77 Stat. 392 42 U.S.C. 7401]. The statute was intended for air pollution in general, and from its beginning attempted to address general pollution and its components as emitted from point sources—steel mills, factories, foundries, and fossil-fueled electric power plants, among others—and mobile sources, particularly autos and commercial vehicles. Several years later, the Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act of 1966 [PL 90—148 81 Stat. 485] codified the distinctions in source emissions adding to overall air pollution, stationary versus mobile. 

The Clean Air Act of 1963 encomaged increased state and local programs for the control of air pollution. The act also provided for the development of air quality standards. In 1965, Congress passed the Motor Vehicle Control Act, which initiated controls on motor vehicle manufacturers to require the installation of air pollution control devices on all new vehicles. Since that time, there have been additional laws that further involved both state and federal agencies in controlling air pollution. 

Several parameters come into the relation between density and equivalence ratio. Generally, the variations act in the following sense a too-dense motor fuel results in too lean a mixture causing a potential unstable operation a motor fuel that is too light causes a rich mixture that generates greater pollution from unburned material. These problems are usually minimized by the widespread use of closed loop fuel-air ratio control systems installed on new vehicles with catalytic converters. 

The Mulford-Carrell Act of 1967 dissolved the Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Board in California and created the Air Resources Board that was provided with broad powers and authority and with the ultimate responsibility of controlling air pollution in California. The California Air Resources Board divided the State into eleven air basins, areas with similar meteorological, topographical, and air pollution problems. Ambient-air quality standards were adopted which apply to all of these basins. The enforcing of these standards is still primarily a function of local go /emment, but emission control programs of local agencies have to be s ibmitted to and approved by the State Board. 

Major sources of acidic precursors (SO2 and NO ) in Singapore include power stations, petroleum refineries, other industries and motor vehicles. Control of these pollutants isregulatedby the Clean Air Act of December 1971. Emissions ofS02 are controlled by restricting the sulfur content of automotive diesel and industrial fuel... 

The Clean Air Act requires each state to adopt a plan, a State Implementation Plan (SIP), which provides for the implementation, maintenance, and enforcement of the NAAQS. It is, of course, emission reductions that will abate air pollution. Thus the states plans must contain legally enforceable emission limitations, schedules, and timetables for compliance with such limitations. The control strategy must consist of a combination of measures designed to achieve the total reduction of emissions necessary for the attainment of the air quality standards. The control strategy may include, for example, such measures as emission limitations, emission charges or taxes, closing or relocation of commercial or industrial facilities, periodic inspection and testing of motor vehicle... 

---