Community Health Impacts of Air Pollution in the U.S.

focuses on the contributions of the energy and transportation sectors to air pollution in the United States and the role of the Clean Air Act in addressing these emissions. [...] In addition, the report provides an overview of the Clean Air Act, including a description of some of its key programs and the pollutants regulated under the act, and discusses the successes of the Clean Air Act in improving air quality nationwide, while recognizing that disenfranchised and underserved communities bear a disproportionate share of the continuing burden of air pollution. [...] 12 S E C T I O N 3 Overview of the Clean Air Act The Clean Air Act (“CAA”) is the primary federal law In the half-century since Congress passed the 1970 CAA addressing the public health and environmental impacts Amendments, the statute has saved millions of lives, of air pollution. [...] the federal government a serious regulatory role in protecting the environment.58 More specifically, the 3.1 The National Ambient 1970 CAA Amendments required the establishment and implementation of the National Ambient Air Air Quality Standards Quality Standards (“NAAQS”), authorized new source Much of the CAA’s improvement in air quality has been performance standards (“NSPS”) and hazardous air. [...] 27% the Petersburg plant is the ninth-largest emitter of toxic of the residents are low-income and 4% are people of air pollutants in the United States and the 35th-largest color.219 The average household income is $52,378 and emitter of greenhouse gases.217 Table 4 summarizes the the poverty rate is 9.4%.220 Moreover, the Petersburg plant’s air pollutant emissions, according to EPA data.