1970 Clean Air Act Research Paper

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Air pollutants and smog covering the United States in several of the country's largest cities and manufacturing cores provoked the passage of the 1970 Clean Air Act law during the peak of the environmental movement. The Clean Air act is a federal law that limits the number of pollutant emissions by establishing standards that people and companies must meet to ensure public welfare. The Act was put in place to set and meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in all 50 states before 1975 in order to eliminate health risks presented by various air pollutants. SIPs, state implemented plan, accompanied the mandate of the NAAQs. The SIPs were created in order to correct industrial foundations in the state, so as to meet these standards. The Act was revised in 1990 to set new dates for meeting the NAAQS because most states failed to meet the goals in time and made general operational licenses program to make the act more practical. The revisions also included improvements to its effectiveness and targeted new air pollution problems like the damage occurring in the ozone and preventing hazardous acid rain. It made the law more business and state-friendly with the extended deadlines, but it also strengthened implementation to make sure the states followed the rules of the act. …show more content…

Numerous states over step the Federal government's regulations on clean air in order to be competitive and business friendly. This creates a problem with federalism because although states have their own rights, the Federal government over rules states government. The National government believes the regulations are completely necessary for the welfare of the country, while states look at it as an opportunity to either loose or attract more