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The criteria pollutants covered by the
federal Clean Air Act are not the only air pollutants that affect public health and the environment.
First of all, toxic chemicals released through productive processes – oil and metal refineries, dry cleaners -- as well as through the burning of fossil fuel --- i.e. transportation – are a cause of concern for many communities. While many of these chemicals are considered volatile organic compounds (VOC) and are therefore controlled in some areas in an effort to reduce formation of ozone, these same chemicals as well as non-VOC compounds have environmental and public health effects in their own right. Local communities which lie in the midst of large industrial processes – or at the intersection of major highways – are particularly concerned with the impacts of toxic chemicals. Fortunately, many of these air contaminants have been reduced through both regulatory and voluntary programs in Texas.
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INDUSTRIAL AIR EMISSIONS OF TOXICS IN TEXAS, SELECTED STATES/TERRITORIES, AND THE U.S., 2001
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STATE
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MILLIONS OF POUNDS OF TOXIC AIR EMISSIONS, MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES, 2001
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MILLIONS OF POUNDS OF TOXIC AIR EMISSIONS, ALL INDUSTRIES, 2001
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Ohio
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50.7
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121.3
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North Carolina
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36.2
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115.1
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Texas
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87.1
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102.8
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Georgia
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42.7
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91.8
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Pennsylvania
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29.8
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89.0
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Florida
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30.5
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83.4
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Tennessee
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55.1
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79.6
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Indiana
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38.8
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77.8
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Top Eight
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760.9
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New Mexico
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0.5
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1.1
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Virgin Islands
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0.9
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0.9
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Rhode Island
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0.7
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0.8
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Guam
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0
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0.2
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Vermont
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0.1
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0.1
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D.C.
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0
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0.04
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N. Mariana Island
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0
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0.008
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American Samoa
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0.007
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0.007
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Bottom Eight
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3.2
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Total U.S
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934.8
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1,679.4
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Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2001 Toxics Release Inventory, query run on TRI Explorer, October 2003.
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NOTE: Includes Industries from SIC Code 20 –39 only.
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Moreover, while the Federal Clean Air Act focuses on outdoor airborne contaminants, in fact, most people spend the
majority of their time indoors. Therefore, indoor air contaminants have been purported to pose a greater threat to
individuals. Whether in schools, office buildings or factories, a variety of air contaminants may come into contact with
people's lungs. Aside from some requirements for guidelines in schools, however, there are few regulatory requirements and fewer resources for dealing with indoor air.
Some problems can only be solved on the international stage. For example, while the ozone at ground-level is harmful
to humans (and wildlife), the ozone in the stratosphere is a layer of protection which blocks out the harmful effects of
radiation from the sun. Unfortunately, throughout the later half of the 20th century, human activities – mainly refrigerants called CFCs – have released ozone-depleting chemicals which actually eat away at the ozone molecules,
creating a vast "hole" in the stratosphere. Because of the serious consequences of this gap in the protective
atmosphere – skin cancer, impacts to the human eye – both at the national level through the Federal Clean Air Act –
and on the international level through the Montreal Protocol, nations have phased out the production and use of many of these chemicals.
Similarly, greenhouse gases are gases such as carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels which inundate the atmosphere
and prevent the heat from the sun from escaping into space. Most scientists believe that the prevalence of these gases
in the atmosphere has already impacted the Earth's climate, leading to a general warming trend over the last decades.
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CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS FROM ENERGY CONSUMPTION BY END-USER, 2001
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Source: Energy Information Adminstration, Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2001 (2003), Table
5.
Note; Electric power sector emissions are distributed across the end-users, but totaled more than 600 million
metric tons, or about 39 percent of all emissions.
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The eventual impacts could be catastrophic, with severe droughts in some areas and monsoons in
others, as well as a general rising in the seas as the icecaps melt. While the U.S. signed an agreement known as the Kyoto Agreement in 1997, in 2001 the
new U.S. administration rejected the approach of cutting its emissions of carbon dioxide and instead called for a more balanced approach toward reducing
carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Much of the world has criticized the U.S. rejection of the treaty.
Finally, air pollutants can also impact visibility – both in
cities but perhaps of more concern in our wilderness areas and national parks. So-called visibility impairment results as "haze" travels vast distances,
carried by easterly and westerly winds. In Texas, visibility impairment in the Big Bend National Park has led to high-level studies and talks between the U.S.
and Mexico about how to reduce sulfur dioxide and particulate matter from coal-burning power plants.
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