Clean Air Act : The Clean Air Act Of 1970

The area of greatest concern and threat is Illinois Beach State Park which boarders the contamination site to the North. This is a concern as asbestos can cause cancer if the fibers are inhaled. Asbestos is less dangerous in water supplies although the site run-off at one point was 3 times the EPA’s limit. The EPA continues to monitor and improve the site. After the main site contamination were remediated, secondary excavation and capping projects have taken place over the years to continue to clean the site for future re-development as shown in the image below.

Pollution has become a heated issue in recent years. The destruction of the environment along with serious health problems are the eventual effects. The extensive use and availability of automobiles, tremendous amounts of production in the booming economy and the constant increase in demand for energy, can be held responsible.

The implementation process of the RCRA has been a complex and controversial issue in the history of the EPA. It provide a complex problem because the EPA often dictates how hazardous wastes is identify and dispose of. For example, according to Sullivan, the author of Environmental Law Handbook recognizes the implementation process, the author writes “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) and states have implemented this mandate in extensive regulations issued under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976(RCRA) and the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984.”(Sullivan 147 2014). The EPA policy implementation concepts functioned as the basis for the hazard identification and waste control. This model challenges society to protect the environment by isolating contaminants from the environment while at the same time addressing difficult regulations of hazardous wastes under the RCRA. Since the enactment of the act, it had experienced challenges because the regulation did and received much attention as a result of the hazardous waste classification. The most vital challenge implementing of the RCRA is the policy that rigorously limits on land disposal of hazardous wastes. Moreover, existing hazardous waste regulations do not create robust incentives for disposing of hazardous waste. The author recognized this challenge when he

In 2009, the Affordable Care Act passed a provision that expanded Medicare coverage to include certain individuals with diseases caused by environmental health hazards (EHH). While there are many potential diseases caused by environmental health hazards, the legislation intended to cover people who developed asbestos related disease (ARD) following exposure in a vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana.1 The provision was included in the ACA with the help of Senator Baucus of Montana, who had a role in writing the health care law.2 The goal was to increase benefits for this new category of Medicare-eligible individuals. The three components of the legislation were the expansion of Medicare benefits, the development of a pilot program, and the initiation of grants to establish screening programs for the early detection of diseases caused by environmental health hazards.1

Before the Clean Air Act (CAA) was passed by Congress, the Air Pollution Act of 1955 and Motor Vehicle Act of 1960 preceded it. The two acts before the CAA did not really do much except jump starting research and throwing plenty of money at the research. When the research was released to Congress from the Motor Vehicle Act, Congress found out that approximately 60% of pollution was coming from vehicles; of the pollutants that were being emitted from vehicles, the most prominent that were found were Carbon Monoxide (CO), Nitrogen Oxide (NOx), and Hydrocarbons. These findings pushed Congress to pass another bill that would help to slow down pollution, especially from vehicles. However, when the CAA was passed, it did not mandate any reductions

The 1955 Air Pollution Control Act was the first U.S federal legislation that pertained to air pollution; it also provided funds for federal government research of air pollution.[4] The first federal legislation to actually pertain to "controlling" air

Asbestos Abatement: Used as a building material for decades, asbestos is a known carcinogen still present in many older homes. Rather than risking your health and that of your loved ones, let SafeGuard Restoration help.

Sullivan, Thomas F. P, and Thomas Lynch Adams. Environmental Law Handbook. Rockville, MD.: Government Institutes, 1997. Print.

Improved air quality wasn’t a subject of national concern until the mid 1900s. After decades of coal burning, unregulated gas emissions from cars and the excessive burning of fossil fuels, people started noticing bad air quality as a hazard to their lives. Over several decades, after seeing the costly effects air pollution was having on the environment and people’s health, interest groups like the Friends of The Earth club and the influences of Theodore Roosevelt and Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring finally came together to persuade the government to enforce legislation that would reduce air pollution. Because of these efforts, the policies of the Clean Air Act of 1963 and the Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Act of 1965, that aimed to control air pollution and raise air quality standards, helped create the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on December 2, 1970. Since then, the EPA has passed more air quality improvement acts, and amendments to previous acts passed, to increase restrictions on air pollutants, with their main policy concern being the Clean Air Act. Improved air quality acts imposed by the EPA have been successful in cleaning the United States’ air quality by reducing ground-level ozone pollution and reducing emissions, allowing for a decrease in pollution related deaths/illnesses and a better standard of living. The EPA, through regulations and the Clean Air Act, has delivered it’s promise to improve air quality in the United States.

This chapter of the book discussed some of the pollutants that are discharged into the air from coal-fired utilities. It explained how weather conditions play a role in exposure and explained the measuring criteria for particulates. It explained how some particulates stay in the atmosphere longer and therefore travel a greater distance till exposure. It then discussed federal involvement in the issue and some of the Clear Air legislation that has been passed over the years starting with the Air Pollution Control Act of 1955. There were six pollutants that were determined to pose the greatest risk, carbon monoxide, lead, particulate matter (now subdivided be particle size), ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide. The final report listed

It was not until the Clean Act of 1970 that enforcement at the federal level being in more a serious way. To quote the EPA website directly “The enactment of the Clean Air Act of 1970 (1970 CAA) resulted in a major shift in the federal government's role in air pollution control. This legislation authorized the development of comprehensive federal and state regulations to limit emissions from both stationary (industrial) sources and mobile sources. Four major regulatory programs affecting stationary sources were initiated: the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS, pronounced "knacks"), State Implementation Plans (SIPs), New Source Performance Standards (NSPS), and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs). Furthermore,

regulation, in the United States, stemmed from the Clean Air Act of 1970. The act instituted the first federal standards for air quality and enabled these standards to be enforced. It also authorized federal and state regulations to limit emissions from stationary, or industrial, sources and mobile sources like automobiles. Specifically, its goal for automobiles was to reduce pollution and health problems caused by vehicles and by gasoline use. Catalytic converters, which convert would-be toxic emissions into less harmful gasses, became a required component in new vehicles in 1976. Leaded gasoline was phased out because vehicles with the converter could not operate on it, and this also eliminated the public health concern caused by lead. By

Superfund sites are located all across the United States and its territories. These sites have been deemed the worst of the worst in terms of environmental damage; they pose a threat to human health and the environment, prior to their remediation. Superfund sites are usually a result of several years of contamination; however, there are some instances when they are one-time accidents. United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in charge of Superfund, which is the common term for Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the enforcement of this law in the United

Air, is one of the most substantial source to mankind and our planet. While it exists, so does everything else along. However, in today’s epidemic, there has been certain factors that have increased in understanding whether the air we breathe today is healthy or not? Is it doing more harm than we thought? In other words, the health risks against air pollution have risen in the past few decades; all from what you may ask? Well, it could be for various factors and evaluations; either environmental or materialistic. Pollution is a major public health crisis in the world. (Friis, 2012). This is one of the conflicts that contribute to various aspects of an individual’s life, whether they may realize it or not. In this paper will include the sources that cause pollution with the effects it cause as well as policies on the regulation of air pollution.

Regulating the toxic waste emissions of polluting organizations has been a costly and time-consuming element of environmental policy for as long as there have been restrictions on these emissions. However, the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), signed into law in late 1986, set forth a number of standards that required polluters to disclose information about their emissions levels to the public and started a chain of events that has led to the creation of numerous information disclosure policies. One of the main thoughts behind these laws, aside from the benefit of increased public awareness of pollution in the community and the ability to plan for emergencies involving the wastes from