America's air quality is better today than ever before in modern history and continues to steadily improve. How did this remarkable turnaround come about? Basing his conclusions on a painstaking compilation of long-term empirical data on air quality and emissions data extending from the pre- federalization era to the present (some dating back a century), Goklany challenges the orthodoxy that credits federal regulation for improving air quality. He shows that the air had been getting cleaner prior to—and probably would have continued to improve regardless of federalization. States and localities, after all, have always been engaged in a race to improve the quality of life, which means different things at different stages of economic development. Goklany’s empirical data refute once and for all the race-to-the-bottom rationale for centralized federal regulation.Moreover, technological advances and consumer preferences continue to play important roles in improving air quality. Goklany accordingly offers a regulatory reform agenda that would improve upon the economic efficiency and environmental sensitivity of air quality regulation.

Clean Air begins and ends with a vivid case study of air pollution at the Clairton coke works, the largest such facility in the world. Against this background, Jones analyzes the development of pollution control policy beyond capability. He describes normal policy development as the gradual temporization of proposals, but that air pollution control deviated from the norm because of widespread public demand in the late 1960s for unrealistic controls. Jones's study further examines the development and implementation of policy at three levels-local, state and federal.

"A project of the Competitive Enterprise Institute." Includes bibliographical references and index.

The Federal Clean Air Act of 1970 is widely seen as a revolutionary legal response to the failures of the earlier common law regime, which had governed air pollution in the United States for more than a century. Noga Morag-Levine challenges this view, highlighting striking continuities between the assumptions governing current air pollution regulation in the United States and the principles that had guided the earlier nuisance regime. Most importantly, this continuity is evident in the centrality of risk-based standards within contemporary American air pollution regulatory policy. Under the European approach, by contrast, the feasibility-based technology standard is the regulatory instrument of choice. Through historical analysis of the evolution of Anglo-American air pollution law and contemporary case studies of localized pollution disputes, Chasing the Wind argues for an overhaul in U.S. air pollution policy. This reform, following the European model, would forgo the unrealizable promise of complete, perfectly tailored protection--a hallmark of both nuisance law and the Clean Air Act--in favor of incremental, across-the-board pollution reductions. The author argues that prevailing critiques of technology standards as inefficient and undemocratic instruments of "command and control" fit with a longstanding pattern of American suspicion of civil law modeled interventions. This distrust, she concludes, has impeded the development of environmental regulation that would be less adversarial in process and more equitable in outcome.

This practical guide to air pollution law governing stationary sources is essential to fully deciphering, applying, and complying with this highly complex area of the law. Corporate counsel, attorneys for regulated sources, federal, state, and local compliance officials and prosecutors, technical consultants, teachers of environmental law, students, legislators, and environmental policymakers will all benefit from Professor Reitze's clear, extensive analysis. This work builds on Professor Reitze's earlier work, Air Pollution Control Law: Compliance and Enforcement, to provide expanded coverage of new source review, hazardous air pollutants, interstate air pollution control, preconstruction and operating permits, and enforcement issues. Whether you are new to environmental law or have considerable experience with the Clean Air Act, this book is an invaluable companion to working your way through the regulatory maze surrounding stationary sources.

Proceedings of the Second International Clean Air Congress documents the information and experiences exchanged at the Second International Clean Air Congress held in Washington, D.C. on December 6-11, 1970. This book compiles technical papers of five representatives from the national non-governmental air pollution prevention association of Argentina, France, West Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom that aims to determine how they might work together cooperatively to contribute to the conservation of the world's air resources The topics discussed include the Swedish experiences on sensory evaluation of odorous air pollutant intensities; chronic fluoride intoxication due to air pollution; and organic ozone reactions as singlet oxygen sources. The emission and control of air pollutants from the incineration of municipal solid wastes and gaseous plume diffusion about isolated structures of simple geometry are also covered. This publication is a good reference for environmentalists and students interested in the scientific, technological, and administrative aspects of air pollution control.

Air Pollution