Flaws and failures of the Clean Air Act

Journal Article · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1978 · Technol. Rev.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5009872

Nisbet, I C.T.

Implementation of the Clean Air Act may be too late and too weak to relieve the health problems caused by polluted air. The original 1970 Act sought to achieve a standard of high quality by 1977 by limiting the amount of particulates, sulfur and nitrogen oxides, oxidants, and hydrocarbons. The law proved to be unworkable because it omitted indoor pollution, focused on the wrong pollutants, and was not based on an adequate understanding of air-pollution chemistry. The concept of threshold levels at which pollutants become harmful proved to be a point of controversy. Enforcement was slow and uneven among the states and many major polluters failed to meet scheduled emission reductions. The 1976 offset policy made pollution control a marketable commodity and allowed an expanding company to buy pollution rights from another company. The 1970 principles were reaffirmed by Congress, but two new problems were introduced: (1) states must now adopt an approved control plan with full compliance by 1982, while (2) automobile emission requirements were postponed until 1981.

• OSTI ID: 5009872
• Journal Information: Technol. Rev.; (United States), Vol. 80:5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CLEAN AIR ACT
IMPLEMENTATION
MODIFICATIONS
AIR POLLUTION CONTROL
AIR QUALITY
COMPLIANCE
DISEASES
HEALTH HAZARDS
HYDROCARBONS
LEGISLATION
MONITORING
OXIDES
PARTICLES
POLLUTION ABATEMENT
PUBLIC HEALTH
RISK ASSESSMENT
STANDARDS
US EPA
CHALCOGENIDES
HAZARDS
LAWS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION CONTROL
POLLUTION LAWS
US ORGANIZATIONS
290300* - Energy Planning & Policy- Environment
Health
& Safety
293000 - Energy Planning & Policy- Policy
Legislation
& Regulation
500600 - Environment
Atmospheric- Regulations- (-1989)