Page 447 - Fundamentals of Air Pollution 3E

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The U.S. Clean Air Act

Amendments of 1990

L INTRODUCTION

The U.S. Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA90) (1) were a revi-
sion of the original U.S. Clean Air Act passed in 1963, amended in 1970,
and amended again in 1977 (2). It is one of the most significant pieces of
environmental legislation ever enacted. Estimates of the yearly economic
impacts of CAAA90 range from U.S. $12 billion to U.S. $53 billion in 1995
and from U.S. $25 billion to U.S. $90 billion by 2005.
CAAA90 is a technology-based program rather than the health-based
program used in the original Clean Air Act. The standards and emission
limits are based on maximum achievable control technology. The final
emission limits will be set forth in permits issued by the individual states.
Stenvaag, in his book, "Clean Air Act 1990 Amendments Law and Prac-
tices" (3), has written:
By far the most important interpretive documents have not yet been written;
the countless EPA regulations, decisions, and explanatory preambles that must be
published in the Federal Register to carry out the Act. As these rulings are systemati-
cally promulgated over the corning decades, flesh and muscle will be added to the
massive skeleton of the 1990 amendments and we will all gain a better understanding
of what the 101st Congress has wrought.

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