The Clean Air Act Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The jazzy Air scrap - Term Paper ExampleThe 1990 amendment too addressed requirements for gasoline reformulation to control its evaporative emissions (Jacobson 2). This paper will discuss the emission regulations contained in the lite Air Act and how it has helped the environment. The Act contains several emission regulations as listed in the below description. National close Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) These are regulations issued by the Environmental Protection Act to set up primordial and secondary NAAQS which define the standards of air quality letted (Martineau and Novello 12). The primary standards aim at providing unrestricted health protection, which embroil protecting the sensitive population like the elderly, children and asthmatics. On the other hand, secondary standards provide protection to public welfare such as crop, buildings and animal damage, and poor visibility (Jacobson 4). New Source Review (NSR) Permits They range regulations requiring new stationary sources of emissions of air pollutants to be permitted prior to construction (Turner 36). It incorporates three types of permits, which are Nonattainment NSR, Prevention of world-shaking Deterioration (PSD) and Minor NSR permits. The Nonattainment NSR permits apply to new sources or modifications of sources that already exist in areas that do non meet the attainment requirements of NAAQS. The PSD permits apply to significant sources or modifications of sources in areas meeting attainment requirement and in addition areas unclassifiable by the NAAQS. Thirdly, Minor NSR permits apply to sources that do not require a PSD or Nonattainment permit (Martineau and Novello 12). New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) They are regulations issued by the EPA that establish air pollution standards to be met by new stationary sources (Turner 40). They encompass categories related to development of energy like gas and oil producing facilities, rock oil refineries and onshore processing plants for natural gases, coal preparation plants and bulk gasoline terminals. The NSPS regulations have two elements, the snowy Air Interstate Rule that caps nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide emissions in the eastern part of the United States, and the Clean Air Mercury Rule that reduces emissions of mercury from power plants powered by coal (Martineau and Novello 14). National run Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) These are regulations that govern emissions of hazardous air pollutants that are not covered under(a) the NAAQS, and they are issued by the EPA. They contain standards for categories of sources that emit significant quantities of air pollutants (Martineau and Novello 14). The environment has benefited from the Clean Air Act in various ways. There has been a 25 percent reduction in ground take ozone, a hazardous component of smog, from 1980 to 2011 (Turner 39). Mercury emissions into the environment have also gone down by 45 percent within the past two decade s. In the same period, rules enforced by lawfulness have facilitated a reduction in emissions of sulfur and nitrogen dioxide, the key pollutants that ca implement acid rain, by 71 percent and 46 percent respectively (Sperling and Deborah 191). The ozone layer has also seen the phasing out of production and use of chemicals contributing to its depletion. The reduction of acid rain due to a cut of emissions that cause it has led