Clean AirEssay Preview: Clean AirReport this essayPeople are mostly unaware of the air that is surrounding us because it is usually invisible, odorless and tasteless when in its unpolluted state. One becomes aware of the air when the wind blows, when the temperature changes, or when visibility is reduced (Palomba, 1979). Polluted air, normally, reduces the intake of oxygen necessary for healthy physiological functioning of the body, and can have severe health impacts (Editor, 2007).
Since the time of the Industrial Revolution, it has been evident that the air we breathe has a direct impact on our health. In 1880, 2200 Londoners were killed by toxic smog of coal smoke; in December 1952, the “Great Smog” of London brought the capital to a standstill and caused an estimated 4000 acute deaths, and an additional 8600 excess deaths during the first 3 months of 1953 (Stone 2002). The air quality in the United States has improved since the passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970; however, it still poses a threat to human health. In 2005, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated that over 122 million Americans live in areas with poor to marginal outdoor air quality.
In the United States, air quality is regulated by the EPA under the authority given by Congress in the Clean Air Act. The EPA establishes and monitors health-based standards for six criteria pollutants: carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen oxide, ozone, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide. These pollutants are chosen not only because they are highly prevalent, but also because they cause the most adverse effects on public health (NHDES, 2006).
The Clean Air Act provides the principal framework to protect air quality. Improvements in air quality are the result of effective implementation of clean air laws and regulations, as well as efficient industrial technologies. The EPA has a number of responsibilities due to the Clean Air Act, including: conducting periodic reviews for the six principal pollutants that are considered harmful to public health and the environment, ensuring that these air quality standards are met through national standards and strategies to control air pollutant emissions from vehicles, factories, and other sources, reducing emissions of SO2 and NOx that cause acid rain, reducing air pollutants such as PM, SOx, and NOx, which can reduce visibility across large regional areas, including many of the nations most treasured parks and wilderness areas, ensuring that sources of toxic
The EPA is in charge of the Clean Air Act, protecting the public from harmful pollutants. EPA will oversee the implementation of the Clean Air Act, but as this bill doesn’t require any government assistance to participate, the EPA is empowered to do so through federal funding. The two main departments responsible for all EPA programs (EPA and the Office of the Administrator) are the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the clean air laws and regulations, as well as managing the agencies that currently oversee EPA-authorized agencies and programs as a whole, as well as federal, state, and local agencies from implementing them. The EPA is responsible for enforcing the Clean Air Act. This means agencies will now be more directly responsible to comply with all federal standards, including to address the needs of rural and underserved population areas, and, more specifically, ensuring that the Clean Air Act is implemented in a “strictly clean” manner before a serious number of existing and future pollutants fall to the ground. These EPA and OMB efforts will be focused on reducing emissions of SO2 and NOx. However, they can take further actions by using the OMB’s new Clean Air Act Clean Air Rule or regulations. We do not want to diminish efforts by this Administration to increase pollution, however, they must do those things by having the government take action rather than a lot of spending.
Finally, because the Clean Air Act will allow the EPA’s Office of Management & Budget (OMB) and its non-profit affiliate agencies to operate as a “partnership” program, the EPA’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) can legally direct its personnel at any time, and any federal agency that uses federal funds to do so will be required to notify the OMB (or any other agency) in writing of the creation of an EPA policy that takes into account state and local federal agencies’s compliance and the need to comply with their state and local laws or regulations. Each OMB, except the National Governors Association (NGA), will have its own policy regarding the scope and nature of our jurisdiction over air pollution regulation. The OMB’s responsibility for making these changes is that they make the state and local community aware of possible increases to atmospheric emissions of SO2 and NOx.
In addition to the Clean Air Act, in order to maximize the impact on air quality of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Air Act’s requirement for federal funding to meet the Clean Air Act’s obligations was introduced by the Senate. Now with its passage, funding for the Clean Air Act is now authorized, and states and cities and municipalities have the authority to impose rules that would improve air quality worldwide. This means they can now put limits on air pollutants, as well as new rules and strategies on ways to mitigate air pollution even before they are issued.
This proposal will not address the problems faced by people living in communities where there have been problems with air pollution, but what it will do is help to help those living in communities affected by air pollution if they have a chance to challenge these limits on personal use.
Today during a speech delivered jointly by President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, and Secretary of State John King, President Barack Obama called for the implementation of an air quality standard that would allow states and municipalities to comply with a nationwide standard for air pollutants that includes the ozone-depleting form of ozone, the very hazardous substances that may impact health-care workers and the communities that support