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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates emissions from stationary and mobile engines to reduce pollution and the greenhouse effect. The EPA enforces federal emissions standards, including requiring catalytic converters in cars. The National Low Emission Vehicle Standards program seeks to further reduce automobile emissions through three tiers of regulations. Level three will incorporate California’s stringent state emissions standards into national regulations.
Federal emissions regulations are established by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate emissions from stationary and mobile engines. These standards limit the amount of known pollutants – greenhouse gases such as carbon monoxide, methane and formaldehyde – that are released into the air. The objective of these limits is to reduce pollution and the greenhouse effect. In addition to establishing these regulations, the EPA also monitors air quality.
Carbon monoxide and methane contribute to pollution which can manifest itself as poor air quality and smog. These and other greenhouse gases can also build up in the earth’s atmosphere and create a heat-trapping barrier, often called the greenhouse effect. Some people theorize that the resulting rise in temperature causes global warming because, over time, the planet gets hotter. Such temperature changes are thought to affect weather, climate, crop yields and disease.
In 1970, US President Richard Nixon created the EPA. That same year, the Clean Air Act was enacted, legislation that gave EPA the authority to set federal emissions standards for all vehicles and equipment. Shortly thereafter, the EPA began enforcing federal emissions standards, when it required US automakers to install a catalytic converter in every car.
A catalytic converter is a device that reduces toxic emissions of unburned hydrocarbons, or fuel, from internal combustion engines. The EPA catalytic converter requirement reduced the output of unburned hydrocarbons by 85%. Since the 1970s, more laws have been enacted to control emissions.
In June 1991, an amendment to the Clean Air Act was passed. This change to the law sought to strengthen federal emissions standards through a program called National Low Emission Vehicle Standards (NLEV). These standards seek to further reduce automobile emissions through the implementation of regulations in three stages or tiers.
The first tier, implemented between 1994 and 1999, based allowable emissions on a vehicle’s weight. Level two ran from 2004 to 2009 and classified vehicles according to a table of emissions standards. Cars with low ratings in this table were deemed clean, while those with high ratings were generally removed from use due to unacceptable emissions levels.
Level three federal emissions standards will be effective from 2010 to 2016. It will incorporate the stringent California state emissions standards into national regulations. California was given the authority to set its own emissions regulations due, in part, to the state’s poor air quality and the need for even more stringent measures than those set by the EPA.
