Clean Air Act

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CLEAN AIR ACT

CLEAN AIR ACT. In 1990, Congress passed substantial amendments to the Clean Air Act of 1970, strengthening the act in a number of ways. Title I imposed new regulations limiting industrial emissions of ozone, carbon monoxide, particulates, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur oxides, and lead. Title II required new emission standards for automobiles and other mobile sources and created a clean-fuel program. Title III substantially limited the emission of hazardous air pollutants, while Title IV established a program to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions from power plants. Title V created an operating permit program for major sources of air pollution that was similar to permit programs found in other major environmental statutes. Title VI implemented the provisions in the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement to halt the destruction of the ozone, by banning the emission of certain chemicals. Finally, Title VII added new enforcement provisions, making it easier to punish violators and substantially increasing both civil and criminal penalties for violations of the act.

Supporters of stronger air pollution controls had fought for over a decade to enact many of these provisions, and they succeeded in 1990 only because of important changes in the political landscape. To begin with, public concern over air pollution had grown due to increased awareness about the effects of acid rain and because of startling revelations about the growing hole in the ozone layer. This concern translated into greater support in Congress and in the administration. In particular, President George H. W. Bush, unlike his predecessor, favored modest strengthening of certain environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act. In the Senate, Democrat George Mitchell of Maine, a clean-air proponent, became majority leader in 1989, replacing Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who had worked for years to protect the coal mining industry in his state by blocking air pollution legislation. In the House, Democratic Representative Harry Waxman of California used his positionas chair of the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment to support the amendments. Meanwhile, environmental organizations united to form the National Clean Air Coalition, effectively counteracting the influence of the industrial lobby's Clean Air Working Group, even though environmentalists played little role in drafting the amendments. Ultimately, the House voted 401–25 in support of the amendments, the Senate passed the amendments 89–10, and President Bush signed the new clean-air legislation into law on 15 November 1990.

During the 1990s, two forces acted to shape the way the act affected American industry and the environment. First, during the mid-1990s, antienvironmental rhetoric and failed legislative attacks by a new, conservative-led Congress intimidated the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from implementing and enforcing the act as aggressively as the law required. Second, and more generally, the 1990 amendments preserved the clumsy scheme of federalism, where by the EPA oversaw state implementation plans. In theory, if a state failed to meet the standards set by federal regulation, the EPA had the authority to run the clean-air program within the state. In practice, however, the EPA had neither the resources nor the political support to do this. Despite the strong language of the 1990 amendments, and marked improvements in the national air quality, by the end of the millennium many believed American skies, while cleaner, were not clean enough.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bryner, Gary C. Blue Skies, Green Politics: The Clean Air Act of 1990 and Its Implementation. 2d ed. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 1995.

Reitze, Arnold W. "The Legislative History of U.S. Air Pollution Control." Houston Law Review 36 (1999): 696–702.

Shannon C.Petersen

Dictionary of American History