The Administration unveiled a plan late last year that would substantially weaken protections in the
Clear Air Act, which has effectively improved public health and protected the environment for over thirty years.
According to the White House Office of Management and Budget Watch (OMB), an agency that promotes governmental accountability, the EPA has removed risk management plans (RMPs) from the EPA site that are collected under Section 112(r) of the
Clear Air Act. These plans provide three elements about chemicals being used in plants: a hazard assessment, a prevention program and an emergency response plan.
As time passed and pollution awareness grew, Congress significantly amended the
Clear Air Act in 1990 in an effort to reduce "routine" emissions that had not been addressed previously.
For example, the
Clear Air Act requires states to develop implementation plans that meet national ambient air quality standards.
Under the new regulations, known as Tier 2 of the 1990
Clear Air Act, by 2004 the sulfur level in gasoline is not to exceed 300 parts per million (ppm).
* Weakened the US
Clear Air Act to allow dirtier fuel to be sold in US markets,
If the EPA models its C[O.sup.2] regulations on its current
Clear Air Act sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide standards, that would mean that any company that emitted more than 100 pounds of C[O.sup.2] per year would be subject to EPA restrictions.
The first national Clean Air Act was enacted in 1970, followed by the 1990
Clear Air Act. Because of California's prior history of local and state policy leadership and extreme problems, national air quality policies have afforded the state the opportunity to develop stricter state-specific policies, most recently undertaken in the California Clean Air Act of 1988, a primary feature of which is mandating the manufacture and sale of ultra low and zero-emission vehicles in California.
The City Council measure, effectively extending the reach of a current Indoor
Clear Air Act that also limits smoking, contains broad signage requirements but no maintenance provisions and could go into effect before the end of this year.
Bush has promised to propose
Clear Air Act amendments that would include specific measures for reducing the pollutants that cause acid rain, chiefly the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from coal-fired power plants.
Crittenden County is the first area in the country to receive the special EPA designation, identified under the 1990
Clear Air Act. The designation will allow the state to develop air quality permitting regulations that allow new industry to locate in the county and still meet air quality goals, the EPA said.
