Air Quality Control Regions

Air Quality Control Regions in the United States

Air Quality Control Regions in Environmental Law

Areas designated by states to cover the geographical interior of the state. The regions are demarcated after taking air currents and distribution patterns for pollutants into consideration.

Several attempts to regulate air pollution had been made before the modern revisions of the Clean Air Act (CAA) occurred in 1970. When the act was passed in 1963, it stated goals and little else, spreading responsibility between the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) and the states. In 1967, it was amended to provide more guidance for the states. It instructed the states to designate air quality control regions where air pollution was a problem and discussed ambient air quality standards and implementation plans. However, nothing was mandatory; air quality standards did not exist on a national level, and HEW had virtually no power to enforce.

When the Clean Air Act was overhauled in 1970, it gave the newly created Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) responsibility for air pollution control and much more power to enforce the law than HEW had had. The EPA was tasked with the job of establishing the ambient air quality standards and the deadlines for complying with them. States were required to formulate implementation plans demonstrating how they intended to meet the new standards, and the plans had to be submitted to the EPA for approval.

From the beginning, the Clean Air Act, unlike some other major environmental laws, recognized the states’ interest in controlling air pollution within their borders. After the EPA designated the air quality standards, the states not only had to name the air quality control regions, but also had to determine whether an individual region met those standards. A region’s success in meeting the standards was categorized as nonattainment, attainment, or unclassifiable. The regions might attain the goal for one pollutant but fail to meet the standard for another. The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 divide the nonattainment areas into five categories: severe, serious, extreme, marginal, and moderate. The deadline for attainment is based on the designation of the region. But the deadlines for attainment were not met; they were changed again in the 1977 and 1990 revisions.

The 1970 CAA also introduced the regulation of new sources, hazardous air pollutants, mobile source emissions, and a broad enforcement scheme. Not only does the CAA emphasize technology, it forces it. Starting with best available technology (BAT) in the 1970 version, the Clean Air Act has been modified to include reasonably available control technology (RACT), lowest achievable emission rate (LAER) and best available control technology in 1977. In 1990, maximum achievable control technology (MACT) was established for hazardous air pollutants. Some of the goals of the regulations were unachievable when first set, but technology has been developed to meet the standards. The EPA operates a clearinghouse to distribute information on technology. See also air permits; criteria pollutant; National Ambient Air Quality Standards; New Source Performance Standards; state implementation plans.
Based on “Environment and the Law. A Dictionary”.


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