| Abstract |
The United States experience with air pollution control has been one of impressive successes. As the 15th anniversary of the historic Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA) approaches, it is worth stepping back to review the history of the legislation and the reactions of the affected industries. Although the CAAA led to tight standards, they left the affected industries with wide latitude in ways to meet those standards. This flexibility encouraged the maximum creativity and innovation among these industries. Faced with the challenge of meeting increasingly stringent standards, affected entities responded with innovations that met or even exceeded the requirements. As a result, the innovations spurred by the CAAA not only led to reduced emissions at lower costs, but also helped build a stronger economy through growth in pollution control industries. This paper analyzes the history of the CAAA with emphasis on areas with significant innovations and technological development, which helped clean the air and were instrumental in the growth of pollution control industries, both domestically and internationally. Although air pollution has not been eliminated, significant progress has been made in improving the quality of the air in most U.S. cities and communities. Since Congress enacted the Clean Air Act in 1970, total national emissions of the six criteria air pollutants have decreased more than 25 percent. |
