|
The following mark significant air pollution events and important legislative steps taken to prevent their recurrence:
- In 1948 air pollution trapped by a temperature inversion in Donora, Pennsylvania, resulted in over 6,000 sick residents
and 20 deaths.
- In 1952 a five-day temperature inversion in London, in December, trapped smoke from open fireplaces and industrial
emissions and resulted in the premature deaths of 4,000 people, many of whom had preexisting heart and lung conditions.*
- In 1963 the federal Clean Air Act provided funds to support state and local air-pollution agencies to initiate interstate
air-pollution research and to enforce interstate pollution laws. The act is administered by the Public Health Service of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
- In 1965 the Texas Air Control Board was created under the Texas Clean Air Act to protect Texas air quality by setting
standards, criteria levels, and emission limits.
- In 1966 a temperature inversion trapped urban air pollution for three days in New York City. Epidemiologists attributed
the premature deaths of 168 people to the episode.*
- In 1970 amendments to the federal Clean Air Act reduced the allowable level of sulfur dioxide from utility smokestacks,
phased out lead from gasoline, and required auto makers to cut emissions by 90 percent by 1975. (Congress later, after industry opposition, gave the automobile industry until 1978 to meet
auto air pollution standards.) The 1970 act also gave the newly created EPA the power to establish national ambient air quality standards (NAAQs). Standards were authorized for
particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides, ozone, and nitrogen dioxide. States were required to develop and implement plans to reduce air pollution to levels below these national
standards by 1975.
- In 1971 amendments to the Texas Clean Air Act authorized the Texas Air Control Board (the predecessor to the Texas Natural
Resource Conservation Commission) to issue air quality permits, which began the following year. Sources of air pollution constructed before 1971, however, are "grandfathered" under the Texas Clean Air Act and do not need to obtain state air quality permits.
- In 1972 Texas submitted to the EPA the first state implementation plan prepared by the Texas Air Control Board, detailing
measures for meeting national ambient air quality standards.
- In 1973 the Arab oil embargo drove Congress to pass the Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act of 1973. To ease
pressure on the oil supply, the act required power plants to switch their fuel sources from oil and natural gas to more-polluting coals. It also temporarily suspended emission limits on
power plants and other stationary sources such as refineries.
- In 1977 amendments to the federal Clean Air Act required some companies to install new pollution control equipment or face
stiff penalties.
- In 1979 the EPA relaxed the national ambient air quality standards for ozone, raising the permissible one-hour level from
0.08 to 0.12 parts per million.
- In 1979 Texas submitted a revised state implementation plan prepared by the Texas Air Control Board for achieving the
national ambient air quality standards by December 1982.
- In 1983 the EPA decided to allow states additional time to submit state implementation plan revisions, where needed, and
to negotiate the control strategy and rule provisions required to demonstrate attainment of the national ambient air quality standards.
- In 1984 an industrial accident in Bhopal, India, at a Union Carbide plant spewed methyl isocyanate gas into the local
area, killing more than 2,500 people and hospitalizing tens of thousands.*
- In 1985 an accident at a Union Carbide plant in Institute, West Virginia, sent a poisonous plume of aldicarb oxime over
the town, sending 135 people to the hospital. Only a new chemical batching process, instituted at the West Virginia plant after the Bhopal accident, prevented the release of the more
toxic methyl isocyanate.*
- In 1985 amendments to the Texas Clean Air Act authorized the Texas Air Control Board to levy administrative penalties for
violations of state and national air quality regulations and to require the Texas Air Control Board to review operating permits at 15-year intervals. Texas submitted a revised state
implementation plan for Dallas, Tarrant, and El Paso counties designed to achieve the ozone standard within those areas by the end of 1987.
- In 1986 the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act required companies to report to the EPA both regular and
accidental releases to the air, water, or land of more than 300 toxic chemicals. The act also required manufacturing companies to develop emergency response plans to use in the event of
accidents.
- In 1987 Texas submitted a substantially revised state implementation plan prepared by the Texas Air Control Board to
satisfy EPA requirements for demonstrating attainment of the ozone standard by the end of 1991.
- In 1990 the federal Clean Air Act amendments, the most far-reaching air pollution prevention legislation ever passed,
addressed airborne toxics, acid rain, and the depletion of the ozone layer, and toughened regulations on vehicles, utilities, and other sources of smog-producing emissions.
- In 1993 the Texas Air Control Board, the Texas Water Commission, and other agencies merged to form the Texas Natural
Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC).
- In 1994 the TNRCC and local officials adopted a state implementation plan to meet federal standards for ozone in four
"nonattainment" Texas metropolitan areas: El Paso, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, and Beaumont-Port Arthur. TNRCC and El Paso officials adopted a state implementation plan
for carbon monoxide and particulate matter.
- In 1997 the EPA, following a public comment period, adopted new standards for ozone and particulate matter and proposed
new regional haze standards for wilderness and protected areas.
- In 1999 the EPA rejected a partial state implementation plan for Dallas-Fort Worth and threatened withholding highway
funds if a stricter plan was not submitted within eighteen months. The plan was later provisionally accepted.
- In 2001, the Texas legislature ends the "grandfather" loophole, requiring industries to apply for permits by 2003 and 2004
and make emission reductions by 2007 and 2008 depending on the area of the state in which they are located.
- In 2003, the Bush Administration sent the Clear Skies Act of 2003 to Congress. If approved, the Act would set an emissions
cap on sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury emissions at levels 70% below year 2000 emission levels. However, the reductions would occur over a two phase 15-year period, and the
Act would also set aside major provisions of the Clean Air Act, such as the New Source Review program, which requires older, major facilities to meet emissions limits if they expand or
ammend their production process.
- In 2003, the U.S. EPA proposed new emission standards for nonroad diesel engines used in construction, agriculture and
industrial operations, and a reduction in the sulfur content of fuel used by these engines. These new proposed regulations followed previous regulations to reduce the sulfur content and
emissions of diesel-run trucks and bus engines.
|
