The Clean Air Act has had several versions since the Air Pollution Control Act of 1955. The act aimed to address air pollution, set standards for pollutant emissions, and reduce or eliminate toxic chemical emissions. Amendments have been made to address compliance timelines and vehicle pollution. The latest version, revised in 1990, set specific limits on air pollution and empowered the Environmental Protection Agency to prosecute violators. Changes continue to be made to address long-term and short-term problems caused by pollutants. Environmentalists criticize the act for not doing enough to prevent global warming.
There are actually several versions of the Clean Air Act, with the first in the US being called the Air Pollution Control Act of 1955. There is quite a bit of historical precedent for governments attempting to create better, healthier air, and these are prior to our understanding of pollutants today. People in England, for example, didn’t complain about the poor “air” in England, and there was a time during the height of England’s industrial revolution when the Thames ran black, and the air quality was so poor, which combined with the fog, people became covered in black soot when entering certain parts of London. America was slightly behind the industrial revolution, but not by much, and especially in urban areas packed with people and factories, clean air was very hard to come by.
The first Clean Air Act, the 1955 Act, attempted to address air pollution. The Air Pollution Control Act didn’t do much to actually control pollution, but instead recognized it as an issue that needed to be studied. About five million dollars a year is allocated to the Public Health Service to study how pollution affects people and the environment and what efforts could be made to stop it.
In 1960, this law was amended with a four-year extension to continue research. In 1962, another amendment included the office of the Surgeon General of the United States to specifically evaluate the health impact of air pollution on the human population. These studies at least helped the US government become aware of the growing air pollution problem, which in turn gave them the power to create the Clean Air Act of 1963.
This 1963 law set standards for pollutant emissions, particularly from stationary sources. It addressed the pollutants created by large factories like steel mills and power plants, but it largely ignored the pollution created by things like cars and airplanes. The Clean Air Act of 1963 set deadlines for stationary sources to comply with emissions standards, and several amendments to the act have been addressed giving companies specific deadlines to comply with the law. The 1963 act also gave many different local and federal agencies regulatory power over noncompliant companies. The latest amendments began to address the issue of vehicle pollution and led to a complete rewrite of the law and the introduction of the Clean Air Act of 1970.
In the 1970 version the standards for creating better air quality became stricter and the guidelines for acceptable levels of emissions were reduced. Both state and federal agencies had certain powers to address the causes of pollution. As with the previous two acts, more money was granted to continue the research. A number of amendments again addressed timelines for compliance. These amendments largely concluded in the 1980s under the leadership of President Ronald Reagan.
In the late 1980s, President George HW Bush proposed new changes, especially to address toxic air, urban air pollution and acid rain. This led to a revised law in 1990, which set specific limits of air pollution allowed at any time and anywhere in the United States. While states may have the ability to enforce those standards or make them even stronger, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is especially empowered to prosecute stationary companies for violating the law and setting standards of permissible pollutants. While the Clean Air Act has many elements, it can be summarized in three main objectives:
To reduce outdoor air pollutants
Eliminate practices that use chemicals or manufacturing processes that are harmful to the ozone layer
Reduce or eliminate those chemical emissions or air pollutants that are potentially toxic to humans and animals.
As with every other version of the law, changes continue to be made, largely as it increases understanding of how pollutants are creating long-term and short-term problems. In particular, vehicle emissions guidelines continue to be changed to hopefully create an environment with cleaner air and fewer potential toxins. Environmentalists still criticize these acts and suggest they are not far enough, by any means, to save the planet from what they see as imminent global warming.
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