Air Quality

1950s and 60s

Manufacturing
Wood burning
agricultural
road building/dirt roads (sand)

Coal/Power Plants
Nitrous Oxide
Sulfur Dioxide
Particulates
Carbon Dioxide
Methel Mercury (bio cumulates in fish)

Vehicles
CO2
lead
CO
NOx

1970 Clean Air Act

• Establishes National Ambient Air Quality Standards
• 6 Criteria Polutents
• NOx
• SOx
• Lead
• Carbon Monoxide (CO)
  
• Particulates
• Ozone
• This was about public health
• EPA sets the standards
• State Environmental Agencies
• Command and Control Approach
  
• can fine the company
• compliance
• cost on industry
• obvi resistance from industry
• Carbon Dioxide
• EPA got sued to count CO2 as a pollutant
  
• EPA can now regulate CO2 though they choose not to
• Cap and Trade
1. You set a limit (Cap)
2. Reduce cap over time
• Coal Fired Power Plants
• Pre 1970s plants are exempt from the 1970 Clean Air Act
  
• Producing 50-60% of our air quality problems
• Vehicles
• gas was so cheap. dirt cheap. renewable source of pollution?
• fuel efficiency standards (CAFE 1977)
• problems
• average of your fleet rather than case by case
  
• classify SUVs as their own sector
  
• Catalytic converters (1975)
• Speed limit 1973: 55 speed when car is most efficient particularly for pollution emissions.
  
• 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments/1991 ISTEA
  
• Last truly major environmental piece of legislation passed in this country
• Created MPOs
• get a say in how that money is going to be spent
• recognized the link between transportation and air quality
• do 3 plans
• 20 year plan
• TIP (Transportation Improvement Plan 3-5 years)
• Projects
  
• State Improvement Plans SIPs
• create by 1990 Amendments
• MPO plans must be consistent
• don't have control over zoning
  
• SIPs must be approved by EPA
• non-attainment areas
• use sanctions
  
• main pollutants keeping them out of compliance
• Ozone/O3 (poison) -->comes from cars
  
• increase in VMP is greater than your increase in population -->indicator of sprawl
• emissions budgets
• EPA works ut a budget for the Metro area to follow and if they don't...SANCTIONS
• Air Pollution permits
• BACT/LAER
• Offsets
• Cap and trade
• lead:
  
• NOx : regional, used in the region until a few years ago
  
• SOx : they met their target 9 years ahead of time and at a lower cost than what was anticipated
• Chicago Central Exchange
• Kyoto
• took an American idea (cap and trade) and applied it to CO2

• attainment areas
• Denver is the only state to come into compliance
• Denver
• Attainment Report
• PM-10
• Particular Matter of 10 Micromillemeter
• PM-2.5 is the new reg
• State Agency dealing with air quality
• AND regional agency
• Mention no transportation control measures are going to be taken
• weird cause they are dealing with supa sprawl
• Denver just got light rail (T-Rex)
• 56 stations
• graduate of this program is in charge of finding out where these stations are going to go

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What is Air?

• 80% Nitrogen, 16% Oxygen, traces of argon, neon, carbon dioxide
• 10,000 feet up
• Air has the ability to assimilate pollution
• an airshed is the local air supply

Air Quality in the City of Los Angeles

• 15 million people
  
• 20 million by 2030
• 80% drive
• mountain range holds smog in
  
• breeze from ocean side
• desert

Current situation
2nd smoggiest in the nation
90% of californians breath unhealth polluted air
78 days

TOD is their only hope

• ozone levels go down as pop rises
• LA region has a deadline of 2010 to meet all federal and state air quality standards. If they don't they don't get money federal highway funds
• the gap between what is needed for federal attainment levels and what is possible with current technology is 450 tons of pollution per day.

Present Responses

• Three government agencies with direct authority to address air quality concerns in the LA region:
• California Air Resources Board
• South Coast Air Quality Management District
• Souther Cal Association of Governments (SCAG)

California Air Resources Board

• Within Department of California EPA
• 11 members appointed by the governor
• Created by State Legislature in 1967; 3 goals:
• Attain and maintain healthy air quality
• What the ARB Does
• Sets and enforces emission standards for motor vehicles, fuels, and consumer products
• health based air qual standards
• conducts research
• monitors health
• AQMD
• 9 eleted members out of 12
• makes regulations
• must be approved by air resources board
• SCAQMD
• budget of 86 million
• funded by fees to industrial polluters
• Does not have authority to estalish emission standards but does issue permits
• SCAG
• Functions as the MPO for 6 county LA region. Covers 15 million people and 38,000
• make plans
• identify projects
• Responses
• San Joaquin Air Pollution Control District (located next to South Coast AQMD) is imposing air pollution impact fees on new development
• CAFE and emissions standards are the toughest in the nation
• Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) Program:
  
• Requires automakers to sell 2% pure SEVs, 2% advanced technology partial ZEVs, and 6% partial ZEVs.
• RGG=northeast states and california's cap and trade
  

Portland, Oregon

• Thousand Friends of Oregon
• stop the proposed highway because there will be more emissions
• LUTRAQ Study
• Transit Oriented Development
• Reduce air pollution and the reliance on automobiles...
• reduced the number of parking spots
• put stations in
  
• worked out

Orenco Station

• one developer
  
• 9 units/acre (you need at least 7/acre for mass transit)
• mixed used

congestion tax


price (getting the prices right), technology, regulation (public health and welfare), spending programs (choosing to spend money on mass trans vs highways), lifestyles (conservation).