EPA Assignment, Coursework Example

Although there are many important laws that maintain and protect environmental integrity in the United States, the Clean Air Act has been one of the great legislative success stories. The United States Congress passed the core provisions of the Clean Air Act in 1963.  After a period of negotiations, the Act was amended three more times in 1970, 1977 and 1990, respectively.  The amendments primarily focused on extending existing deadlines for compliance set out in the initial act, as well as putting forth new solutions to maintain clear air.

Altogether, the Act consists of six man sections (or titles): the main portions of the Act set national health-based air quality standards for protection against common pollutants in air such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, lead, ozone, and particulate soot.  In addition to the federal guidelines outlining pollution standards, the state governments also play a key role in enforcement.  That is, state governments are tasked with promulgating specific plans to meet the standards set out by the federal government- this includes setting up and monitoring air quality in various areas through the state.   Additionally, the Act sets out specialized targets for sources of pollutions such as trucks, automobiles, and electric power plants; amendments to the Act in 1990 promoted the use of emissions trading to reduce carbon output.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the main executive agency in charge of implementing and monitoring the Act.

There are two primary ways to judge the success of the act: 1) examining the metrics of how the Act has reduced overall air pollution in particular pollutants; 2) examining the cost and benefit relationship for the implementation and outcome of the Act.   Regarding the first criteria, there is significant evidence to suggest that the Clean Air Act has been successful in reducing the amount of pollution in the air. Some of the facts include: Nearly every state in the union has achieved the stated clean air standards for four of the six main pollutants regulated in the Clean Air Act- those pollutants being carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and lead.  (AEI, 2010).  More specifically, emissions of toxic lead have dropped 98 percent from pre-Clean Air Act levels; emissions of sulfur dioxide have dropped 35 percent; emissions of carbon monoxide have dropped 32 percent (AEI, 2010).  Although it may be possible that marginal reduction in pollution was achievable over the same time span, the significant reduction, in a time of economic growth, is likely due to the Act.

Most observers posit the Clean Air Act, in addition to reducing pollution levels, has also led to substantial monetary savings for the country.  Indeed, in March 2011, the EPA issued the “Second Perspective Report” which attempted to quantify the benefits of the Clean Air Act from 1990 to 2020. The study’s results calculated that the “direct benefits from the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments reach almost $2 trillion for the year 2020- a figure that dwarfs the direct costs of implementation ($65 billion) (EPA, 2010).  Looking at the breakdown of the statistics, a majority of the benefits (roughly 85 percent of the total benefits), are attributable to reductions in premature mortality associated with premature mortality associated with reductions in matter.

The remaining 15 percent of benefits are divided between three categories related to human health and environmental improvement: preventing premature mortality associated with ozone exposure; preventing overall morbidity in individuals (including acute myocardial infections and chronic bronchitis); and improving the quality of ecological resources (EPA, 2010). It should be stated the EPA’s the cost-benefit analysis is less straight forward than the reduction in measured pollution.  Indeed, some of the analysis is subjective in nature such as putting a price on human life (that is, deaths saved) and the actual savings from reduced levels of asthma.  With these caveats,  the Act still is one of the most successful pieces of environmental legislation in history.

References:

Hayward, S. (2010).  Two Cheers for the Clean Air Act.  American Magazine.  Available at: http://www.american.com/archive/2010/september/two-cheers-for-the-clean-air-act.

EPA (2010). Benefits of the clean air act: 1990-2020.  Available at: http://www.epa.gov/air/sect812/prospective2.html.