The Clean Air Act And Air Pollution

This source features a report by Jill U. Adams on the dangers, and current regulations of air pollution and climate change. Holding a Ph.D. in pharmacology from Emory University, the author primarily writes a health column for the Washington Post. She has also been featured in the magazines Audubon, Scientific American and Science. Because this article covers climate change, there is an inherent liberal bias. However, this bias coincides with irrefutable scientific data proving the existence of climate change. The audience for this article is anyone effected by air pollution and climate change; just about everyone. This source upholds my speculation that human beings have a significant effect on the climate. Before reading this article, I wasn’t aware that 55 million people a year died from air pollution. I found this source on CQ Researcher while searching for ‘pollution.’

Another time it has been used was with the Clean Air Act. The clean air act was a mandate put by the national government, that all of the states must follow, that is unless that states want to face fines by the government. The Clean air act is a federal law that was passed in an effort to regulate air emissions from mobile and immobile devices.

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 Clean Air Act is a United States federal law designed to control air pollution on a national level.[1] It is one of the United States' first and most influential modern environmental laws, and one of the most comprehensive air quality laws in the world.[2][3] As with many other major U.S. federal environmental statutes, it is administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in coordination with state, local, and tribal governments.[4] Its implementing regulations are codified at 40 C.F.R. Subchapter C, Parts 50-97.

However, by the 1890s it was clear that this was a problem which was becoming worse. To deal with these challenges the Metropolitan Sewage Commission began to monitor the quality of water and disposal of waste. They surveyed the New York Harbor and determined that it was filled with a black sludge at the bottom. This is the result of years of contamination that built up. In the decades following, they worked to continuously improve these standards and enforce them on the local level. Once the Clean Water Act was passed, is when these standards became common throughout the nation. This law adopted the provisions that were focused on by the Metropolitan Sewage Commission. Most notably: all lakes, rivers, streams and ponds must be fishable. This ensured improved standards for monitoring and increasing the quality of water inside New York City. (Waldman, 2013) (Jarvey, 2006)

Since human’s activity, pollution becomes a big problem in the world. There are a lot of part of pollutions include water pollution, light pollution and air pollution. Air pollution is happened in our life. The United States is also a victim of air pollution. In 1943, Los Angeles photochemical smog event occurred. The whole of Los Angeles was covered with smoke. There are about 400 people died and a lot of fruits in orchards began to wither.

The clean Air Act deals with solving air pollution problems through science and new information. The purpose for this act is to decrease the amount of pollution that we give off, and work towards making the air cleaner for everyone. Although progress has been made to lower pollution levels, it still is a threat to people’s lives. A goal that was set in the year 1975 was going to try and achieve National Ambient Air Quality Standards in every state to keep people healthy.

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.

Before water is allowed to run into home pipelines, it has to go through several steps, and they are: physical, chemical, biological, and radiological because any tap water from source systems can be contaminated. The Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 describes contaminants as “Some drinking water contaminants may be harmful if consumed at certain levels in drinking water while others may be harmless” (Health reference series) . The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) is defined as the federal law that protects public drinking water supplies throughout the nation. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is what sets the regulations for what goes into the water for better quality. In other words, people need to know where their water comes from and whether or not it is safe to drink. The EPA tests the water to check if the sodium hypochlorite, calcium, magnesium, and pH level is equivalent to the federal rule of drinking water. For instance, if those methods of treating the water is not handled properly, the water could be corrosive and could damage the water pipes with lead or copper, which would end up in the drinking water and would not be safe for human consumption. The Flint water department did not properly treat its water when the switch from Lake Huron to the Flint River

Air pollution can harm plants, lakes, and animals. In addition to damaging the natural environment, air pollution also can damage buildings, monuments, and statues. Not only does it reduce your visibility but it also interferes with aviation. In 1970, Congress created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and passed the Clean Air Act, giving the federal government authority to clean up air pollution in this country.3 Ever since then, the EPA, states, tribes,

Originally, it was passed by Congress in 1974 to protect public health by regulating the nation’s public drinking water supply, but later in 1986 and 1996 in order to protect drinking water and its sources from lakes, reservoirs, rivers, springs, and ground water wells, the law was amended by requiring many actions including setting the standards for drinking water quality. It is the SDWA’s responsibility to oversee the states, localities, and water suppliers that they perform up to those standards. This law almost guaranteed the safety of drinking water as well as the safety of the general

In the air in particular, six commonly found air pollutants have decreased by more than 50 percent. Between 1970 and 1995 alone, the emissions major air pollutants decreased 30 percent. Air toxins from industrial plants have decreased by more than 70 percent. Today, more than 60 percent of America’s waters meet the fishable and swimmable goal of the Clean Water Act, up from only around 33 percent before the act was passed. While industries argue that the restrictions put on them have been too intense and stifled growth, since the passing of these bills the US GDP has tripled, energy consumption increased by 50 percent, and vehicle use increased by 200 percent. It is clear that without these acts in place it would be impossible to control the pollution in America with such fast social and economic growth in the

Chapter 19th of the textbook, “Air Pollution Policy in Canada: Government Leadership or Smoke and Mirrors?” written by Owen Temby, Don Munton and Ingur Weibust, mainly focuses on dealing with trans-boundary air pollution and how it has been one of the concerning issues of Canada since 1970 because of the federal government in past few years.

After a city has been struck by a storm or a natural disaster, governments have created different policies that help people during the aftermath of the storm. Climate change has had an impact on people’s lives through the years, and the Clean Air Act of 1970 was created in order to make the air that we breather cleaner, with newly enhanced technology (Obama). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has created the Clean Air Act in order to reduce greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide (“Federal Action on Climate”). Just like the Clean Air Act and the EPA, the Department of Defense (DOD) helps plan consequences of cClimate cChange, in order for better global security and research on global change (“Federal Action on Climate Change”). As a response

since 1970. 40 percent of sulfer dioxide in the air has been reduced, as well