U.S. Environmental Policies: The Clean Air Act Research Paper

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In an attempt to make the United States a country with the best quality of life, its government pays focused attention to the potential sources of respiratory disease and lung cancer. There is no doubt that air pollution, along with other types of environmental pollution, pose a significant threat to the health of common people in the United States. The Clean Air Act is an environmental law that was passed in 1970. The law under consideration is aimed at providing clear rules and standards related to emissions from various sources. Among the prerequisites to the creation of such a law was the problem of air pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

The law under consideration includes many sections that touch upon specific problems related to air pollution and standards helping to improve the situation. In particular, the law provides new air quality standards and presents a comprehensive list of substances that are dangerous pollutants causing disease. Apart from that, one chapter of the law presents measures to be taken to prevent the ozone layer destruction.

The act provides information on the air quality in different parts of the United States; the information is updated regularly. Due to the act, it can be quite difficult to build new industrial facilities in some areas that do not meet the new air quality standards. They are defined as non-attainment areas. Importantly, the given law acts as an important motivator that requires local authorities in areas that do not meet air quality standards to present detailed improvement plans that list emergency procedures to be implemented.

The act sets clear limits on the number of dangerous substances that can be released from various sources including passenger transport, aerial vehicles, freight transport, plants, and factories (Murray, Pizer, & Ross, 2015). Another topic touched upon in the given law is the problem of acid precipitations that is caused by increased emissions from generating plants in the United States. Due to the rapid development of technology, specialists from various industrial facilities can align with the standards by installing modern emission control systems.

The Clean Air Act has a significant influence on the economic development in the United States. When it comes to the short-term effects of the act, it needs to be said that it increased business competition about environmental safety and air quality. Right after the law was passed, many companies had to go out of business because they did not have enough financial resources to buy and install high-quality emission control systems. Due to the new requirements that industrial facilities must meet, the number of abandoned plants increased.

However, when it comes to long-term effects, the law is believed to have contributed to a healthier economy. For instance, since its adoption, the United States GDP grew 212% whereas the number of available private sector jobs increased by more than 80% (The United States Environmental Protection Agency, n.d.). According to the information provided by EPA, the registered economic growth is strictly interconnected with the law’s positive environmental effects. In particular, many studies indicate that the reduced number of people with lung diseases is among the key effects of the law.

A peer-reviewed study conducted by EPA seven years ago shows that the introduction of CAA helped to avoid “more than 160,000 premature deaths and 130,000 heart attacks” (The United States Environmental Protection Agency, n.d., para.4). Apart from numerous health benefits that exist due to the impact of the law, CAA helped to increase the degree of compliance with emission standards in different states. Nevertheless, positive results related to the prevalence of respiratory disease in the United States act as the most important indicator of continuous improvement.

References

Murray, B. C., Pizer, W. A., & Ross, M. T. (2015). Regulating existing power plants under the US Clean Air Act: Present and future consequences of key design choices. Energy Policy, 83, 87-98.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). . Web.

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