Answer To: Instructions You will create this assignment following the Assignment Detail instructions below....
Soumi answered on Aug 19 2020
Running Head: CLEAN AIR ACT 1
CLEAN AIR ACT 4
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
CLEAN AIR ACT
Table of Contents
Name of the Act and its Year 3
Key Provisions of the Act 3
Economic Impact of the Act 3
Improvement of Circumstances and Environment by the Act 4
References 5
Name of the Act and its Year
The Clean Air Act was passed in 1963 and major amendments were done in 1970 and 1990 (Congressional Record- Senate, 2011).
Key Provisions of the Act
The act was intended to minimize air pollution and maintain high air quality. The major provisions for the Clean Air Act are as follows:
1. The act gave charge of monitoring and improving air quality to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
2. According to the act, the EPA could set clean air standards, conduct research programs, provide financial and technical assistance too both state and local government and to enforce regulations.
3. 1970 amendment of the act also directed EPA to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) which will control the emission of harmful substances. These harmful substances were divided into primary and secondary pollutants which directly or indirectly affects human health (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2017).
4. In 1990, special attention was given to reduce acid rain. Emission of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides were targeted to be reduced by 50%.
5. The ozone was also limited in the urban cities which is mainly responsible for smog. Cities that failed to meet the standard of ozone emission were divided into five categories and treated separately (Jacobs, Burgess & Abbott, 2018).
6. New regulations were imposed on automobile pollution by reducing hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions with new strict pollution standards.
Economic Impact of the Act
In 2011, Mr. Bennet addressed the Senate stating that for every dollar spent on the Clean Air Act protections, a benefit of $30 was incurred with respect to the domain of public health (Congressional Record- Senate, 2011). According to the EPA reports, benefits of $2 trillion was obtained against an expenditure of $65 billion (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2017). The net improvement that occurred was due to the fact that the reduction in pollution led to better health, reduction in air pollution induced diseases such as respiratory and cardiac diseases along with reduction in infant deaths. As noted by a peer reviewed EPA study, there has been a decrease in incidences of asthma, chronic bronchitis and number of restricted activity days.
Improvement of Circumstances and Environment by the Act
The Clean Air Act of 1973 has been successful in achieving its intended goals of mitigating the effects of pollution on environment and human health. According to the Linn, Mastrangelo and Burtraw (2014), there has been a significant decrease in of 73% in the average levels of ozone, mercury emissions, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxides, carbon monoxide, CFCs, lead. Hence, all the criteria pollutants have been decreasing. Statistics have showed that the Act helped to prevent 205000 deaths in 1990 (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2017).
Air pollution has been known to exhibit numerous forms of environmental damage. After the implementation of the Act, there have been lesser incidences of greenhouse gas emissions and acid rain. This in turn has resulted in decrease in global warming, acid rain and concomitant damage to plant as well as soil health. The chances of disruption of aquatic ecosystem due to pH changes and toxin accumulation has also reduced. According to Isen, Rossin-Slater and Walker (2017), reduced air pollution caused an estimated gain of $5.5 million in the agricultural industry. Hence, it can be concluded that the law has improved the environmental situation and other aspects of USA post its implementation.
References
Congressional Record- Senate, (2011) Clean Air Act, Retrieved from https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2011-03-14/pdf/CREC-2011-03-14-pt1-PgS1591.pdf
Isen, A., Rossin-Slater, M., & Walker, W. R. (2017). Every breath you take—every dollar you’ll make: The long-term consequences of the clean air act of 1970. Journal of Political Economy, 125(3), 848-902.
Jacobs, E. T., Burgess, J. L., & Abbott, M. B. (2018). The Donora Smog Revisited: 70 Years After the Event That Inspired the Clean Air Act. American journal of public health, 108(S2), S85-S88.
Linn, J., Mastrangelo, E., & Burtraw, D. (2014). Regulating greenhouse gases from coal power plants under the clean air act. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 1(1/2), 97-134.
United States Environmental Protection Agency, (2017) Clean Air Act Overview, Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/benefits-and-costs-clean-air-act-1990-2020-second-prospective-study