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The article focuses on the alternative air pollution control based on well-defined emission rights for each parcel of land in a region. The move is due to the vague and unevenly applied control strategy under a general smoke ordinance. An alternative approach to the development of air pollution control plans for stationary sources of sulfur dioxide and particulates is based on the integration of air resource management with urban and regional planning. It insures that the desired long-range regional air quality goals are attained by control plans which have an inherent economic optimal which are not sensitive to detailed inputs required in a cost-effectiveness analysis.

During the last 30 years, significant effort has been made to improve air quality through legislation for emissions reduction. Global three-dimensional chemistrytransport simulations of atmospheric composition over the past 3 decades have been performed to estimate what the air quality levels would have been under a scenario of stagnation of anthropogenic emissions per capita as in 1980, accounting for the population increase (BA1980) or using the standard practice of neglecting it (AE1980), and how they compare to the historical changes in air quality levels. The simulations are based on assimilated meteorology to account for the yearto- year observed climate variability and on different scenarios of anthropogenic emissions of pollutants. The ACCMIP historical emissions dataset is used as the starting point. Our sensitivity simulations provide clear indications that air quality legislation and technology developments have limited the rapid increase of air pollutants. The achieved reductions in concentrations of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, black carbon, and sulfate aerosols are found to be significant when comparing to both BA1980 and AE1980 simulations that neglect any measures applied for the protection of the environment. We also show the potentially large tropospheric air quality benefit from the development of cleaner technology used by the growing global population. These 30-year hindcast sensitivity simulations demonstrate that the actual benefit in air quality due to air pollution legislation and technological advances is higher than the gain calculated by a simple comparison against a constant anthropogenic emissions simulation, as is usually done. Our results also indicate that over China and India the beneficial technological advances for the air quality may have been masked by the explosive increase in local population and the disproportional increase in energy demand partially due to the globalization of the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports the decision of the D.C. Circuit Court in the case 'Alec L. ex rel. Loorz v. McCarthy,' in which the court dismissed the law suit that alleges U.S. Government for violating the public trust doctrine (PTD). It informs that PTD requires state and federal agencies to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

Case C-404/13, The Queen, on the application of Client Earth v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs EU:C:2014:2382, OJ C – 26 of 26.1.2015, p. 6. When a Member State finds that the limit values cannot be respected before the deadline fixed by the Air Quality Directive and wishes to postpone that deadline for a maximum of five years, that Member State is required to make an application for the postponement of the deadline by drawing up an air quality plan demonstrating how those limits will be met before the new deadline (official headnote). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of whether international trade rules apply to the global carbonmarket has been a source of continuing academic debate. One particular source of disagreement is the extent to which trade in carbon units (also known as emissions permits or emissions allowances) constitutes a "financial service" for the purposes of the WTO Agreement's Annex on Financial Services. This Article re-evaluates that debate in light of a number of key recent developments: the first everWTO dispute involving the Annex on Financial Services and shedding light on its scope and coverage; the designation of carbon units as "financial products" under the municipal law of a number of important jurisdictions; and the rapid proliferation of emissions trading schemes. These developments make clear that carbon markets are indeed subject to international trade rules, which could immediately impugn a number of emissions trading schemes that discriminate between carbon units based on their jurisdiction of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sub-global emissions trading scheme (ETS) risks harming competitiveness and causing carbon leakage. These concerns cast doubt on the efficiency and environmental effectiveness of unilateral climate policies. ETSs implemented thus far include measures to address competitiveness and leakage concerns. This paper analyses the extent to which these unilateralmeasures affect linking of ETSs by taking the EuropeanUnion Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and the Australian Carbon Pricing Mechanism (ACPM) as case studies. In both the EU ETS and the ACPM, the free allocation of allowances to emissions-intensive trade-exposed sectors is the primary instrument of addressing leakage and competitiveness concerns. They, however, use different systems of free allocation. Although linking ETSs with different systems of allocation is technically possible, certain differences give rise to efficiency, competitiveness, equity, and environmental effectiveness concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforced the good neighbor provision by establishing the Transport Rule or Cross State Air Pollution Rule for reducing air pollution emissions from coal and natural gas power plants in upwind state. It mentions that good neighbor provision has developed a State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the upwind state to determine its mechanism and unfair implications for the downwind state, under the Clean Air Act.

The goal of this article is to examine the underlying considerations of designing and establishing the regulatory framework of an emissions trading program in China after the National Development and Reform Commission initiated the emissions trading pilots in seven provinces and cities in 2011. The article provides the policy development context and discusses the findings through empirical work on the design features of an emissions trading program in Tianjin. The underlying considerations and constraints are analyzed as followed to set the basis for further research into the regulatory design of an emissions trading program in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the air quality in the Seoul Metropolitan area (SMA), the Korean government has implemented special measures in the 1990s. As part of these measures, the Cap-and-Trade System (CATS) was introduced and executed in July 1, 2007 for the oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and sulfur (SOx) to provide added flexibility for large sources to meet the required emission reductions. However, the trade via the SMA CATS for the air pollutants has not been active because of the limited buyers and sellers within the system as well as limited tradable species. For more flexible operation of the SMA CATS, following strategies have been suggested and their merits are discussed; (1) to link the SMA CATS with the Korea Voluntary Emission Reduction (KVER) program which is a program to manage greenhouse gases (GHGs), and (2) to extend the system, such as extension of the tradable species, participants, and introducing a project-based certification mechanism for pollutants reduction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Clean Air Act mandates that the US. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulate emissions of over 180 Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs). These HAPs are commonly used industrial chemicals and compounds with the potential to cause cancer or other serious health effects. Although the EPA estimates that "on average, approximately 1 in every 20,000, people have an increased likelihood of contracting cancer as a result of breathing air toxics from outdoor sources if they were exposed to 2005 emission levels over the course of their lifetime," the EPA does not regulate or restrict emissions of these HAPs based on the health risks posed by ambient-air concentrations or actual exposures to these toxic substances. The EPA does regulate emissions of HAPs, but the primary regulatory tool is to impose technology-based emission controls on sources of HAPs. Years afier those controls are installed, the EPA evaluates the health risks remaining (i.e., 'residual risks) from facilities that emit the HAPs. Unfortunately, the EPA does not evaluate these risks based on actual ambient concentrations of these pollutants; instead, it bases its assessment on engineering calculations. The EPA's own resecirch indicates that air pollution is posing sign~fIcant health risks, particularly in urban areas. The EPA should revise its program so as to restrict ambient concentrations of HAPs (based on detection of NAPs where the public is actually exposed) to levels that will provide adequate protection ofpublic health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes whether regulating “hot spots” of toxic air pollution by increasing the spatial resolution of regulation could address environmental justice (EJ) concerns. To examine this question, this paper develops a decision model of a regulator choosing emission controls within a net cost minimizing framework. An empirical application of the model using air toxic emission data for Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties in Florida estimates the emission standards and spatial distribution of risks at a coarse and a finer spatial resolutions. Implications for EJ are analyzed by combining the simulated spatial risk distributions at the two resolutions with the demographic data. Results indicate that different measures of EJ point to different conclusions regarding the question of whether finer resolution regulation alleviates EJ concerns. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for EJ policy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We examine the temporal and the spatial trends in the concentrations of black carbon (BC) – recorded by the IMPROVE monitoring network for the past 20 years – in California. Annual average BC concentrations in California have decreased by about 50% from 0.46 μg m−3 in 1989 to 0.24 μ gm−3 in 2008 compared to the corresponding reductions in diesel BC emissions (also about 50%) from a peak of 0.013 Tg Yr−1 in 1990 to 0.006 Tg Yr−1 by 2008. We attribute the observed negative trends to the reduction in vehicular emissions due to stringent statewide regulations. Our conclusion that the reduction in diesel emissions is a primary cause of the observed BC reduction is also substantiated by a significant decrease in the ratio of BC to non-BC aerosols. The absorption efficiency of aerosols at visible wavelengths – determined from the observed scattering coefficient and the observed BC – also decreased by about 50% leading to a model-inferred negative direct radiative forcing (a cooling effect) of −1.4 W m−2 (±60%) over California. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The potential for greenhouse gas (GHG) restrictions in some nations to increased emissions in other nations, or leakage, is a contentious issue in climate change negotiations. We evaluate the impact of border carbon adjustments (BCAs) outlined in the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2454), using an economy-wide model. For 2025, we find that BCAs reduce leakage by up to two-thirds, but result in only modest reductions in global emissions and significantly reduce welfare. In contrast, BCA-equivalent leakage reductions can be achieved by very small emission charges or efficiency improvements in nations targeted by BCAs, which have negligible welfare effects. We conclude that BCAs are a costly method to reduce leakage, but may be an effective coercion strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Following the meteorological evaluation in Part I, this Part II paper presents the statistical evaluation of air quality predictions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA)’s Community Multi-Scale Air Quality (Models-3/CMAQ) model for the four simulated months in the base year 2005. The surface predictions were evaluated using the Air Pollution Index (API) data published by the China Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) for 31 capital cities and daily fine particulate matter (PM2.5, particles with aerodiameter less than or equal to 2.5μm) observations of an individual site in Tsinghua University (THU). To overcome the shortage in surface observations, satellite data are used to assess the column predictions including tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) column abundance and aerosol optical depth (AOD). The result shows that CMAQ gives reasonably good predictions for the air quality. The air quality improvement that would result from the targeted sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emission controls in China were assessed for the objective year 2010. The results show that the emission controls can lead to significant air quality benefits. SO2 concentrations in highly polluted areas of East China in 2010 are estimated to be decreased by 30–60% compared to the levels in the 2010 Business-As-Usual (BAU) case. The annual PM2.5 can also decline by 3–15μgm−3 (4–25%) due to the lower SO2 and sulfate concentrations. If similar controls are implemented for NOx emissions, NOx concentrations are estimated to decrease by 30–60% as compared with the 2010 BAU scenario. The annual mean PM2.5 concentrations will also decline by 2–14μgm−3 (3–12%). In addition, the number of ozone (O3) non-attainment areas in the northern China is projected to be much lower, with the maximum 1-h average O3 concentrations in the summer reduced by 8–30ppb. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Under the 11th Five Year Plan (FYP, 2006–2010) for national environmental protection by the Chinese government, the overarching goal for sulfur dioxide (SO2) controls is to achieve a total national emissions level of SO2 in 2010 10% lower than the level in 2005. A similar nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions control plan is currently under development and could be enforced during the 12th FYP (2011–2015). In this study, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S.EPA)’s Community Multi-Scale Air Quality (Models-3/CMAQ) modeling system was applied to assess the air quality improvement that would result from the targeted SO2 and NOx emission controls in China. Four emission scenarios — the base year 2005, the 2010 Business-As-Usual (BAU) scenario, the 2010 SO2 control scenario, and the 2010 NO x control scenario—were constructed and simulated to assess the air quality change from the national control plan. The Fifth-Generation NCAR/Penn State Mesoscale Model (MM5) was applied to generate the meteorological fields for the CMAQ simulations. In this Part I paper, the model performance for the simulated meteorology was evaluated against observations for the base case in terms of temperature, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation. It is shown that MM5 model gives an overall good performance for these meteorological variables. The generated meteorological fields are acceptable for using in the CMAQ modeling. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Although several personal carbon trading (PCT) scheme designs have been mapped, the practical challenges in the context of existing EU climate policies have not been addressed in detail. The implementation and administration of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) are compared with the current PCT proposals to reveal the intricacies of the implementation and administration of a new emissions trading scheme as well as issues of compatibility between schemes. Several issues need to be resolved. For example, problems of double regulation and double counting could be created by the parallel existence of the EU ETS. In addition, a clear definition of 'personal' is needed in order to prevent carbon leakage to 'non-personal' areas. Furthermore, monitoring (international) mobility emissions is a challenge without a practical and politically acceptable solution. Monitoring of emissions and trading of allowances in real time through the use of a carbon swipe card is likely to increase the costs and reduce the political acceptability of a PCT scheme. Finally, the assumption that equal per capita allocation would be fairer than other allocation methods is far from being accepted, therefore weakening some of the benefits of a PCT scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU) Clean Air Directive is currently among the strictest acts of legislation worldwide concerning PM10 air pollution. The most visible result of the new PM10 legislation has been the rapid adoption of “Low Emission Zones” (LEZs), which define areas that vehicles may enter only if they are classified as low PM10 emitting vehicles. High-polluting vehicles are not allowed to be driven into LEZs. This article describes recent developments in Europe concerning clean air legislation, focusing in particular on particulate matter (PM). The article begins with a discussion of the health impacts of PM, and then traces the history of ambient PM standards in the EU. After comparing ambient PM standards in the EU with those in the United States, we discuss Germany's implementation of LEZs, including public reaction to the policy. We also provide a brief overview of other urban traffic-related policies aimed at reducing air pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: At the onset of the 2010 statutory deadline for the respect of the European National Emission Ceiling directive, two questions arise. Will the engaged regulations for the respect of ozone air quality thresholds be fully efficient on the most polluted regions? How can we design the continuation of ozone control in those areas? This study is based on refined 3D modelling studies over a French Mediterranean region. It compares 2001 and 2003 situations with several prospective 2010 emission scenarios with, for the first time, the evaluation of local action plans. The degree of compliance with air quality regulation is investigated and the impact of emission control on the local potential for ozone formation is discussed. The results show that current efforts on emissions, although substantial and efficient, are not sufficient yet to abrogate all the ozone threshold exceedances. They also highlight the gap between regulatory and effective emission control, as well as the need for regional regulations to complete national efforts. Finally, the simulations indicate that large-scale emission control significantly helps reducing rural ozone (−20 ppbv) but affects much fewer (−2 to −10 ppbv) the highest peaks. The continuation and the strengthening of ozone policies under their current form in such regions are considered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Sour Gas Amine Treating Unit (ATU) new control structure may be considered as very important related to the impact of sulphur emissions generated by the tail lean gas. Mostly this type of lean gas is used as petrochemical complexes process furnaces fuel. The paper presents some contributions regarding the development of dedicated hierarchical control system, process structure and subsystems of ATU and also lean gas purity control. The hierarchical control structure proposed by author represents a real solution to reduce emissions generated by lean gas streams used as fuels worldwide. The solution considered represents also the most effective way to meet environmental regulation laws related to sulfur removal from tail gas fuel streams on each petrochemical facility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns about health effects due to emissions from ships have magnified international policy debate regarding low-sulfur fuel mandates for marine fuel. Policy discussions center on setting sulfur content levels and the geographic specification of low-sulfur fuel use. We quantify changes in premature mortality due to emissions from ships under several sulfur emissions control scenarios. We compare a 2012 No Control scenario (assuming 2.7% or 27000 ppm S) with three emissions control scenarios. Two control scenarios represent cases where marine fuel is limited to 0.5% S (5000 ppm) and 0.1% S (1000 ppm) content, respectively, within 200 nautical miles of coastal areas. The third control scenario represents a global limit of 0.5% S. We apply the global climate model ECHAM5/MESSy1-MADE to geospatial emissions inventories to determine worldwide concentrations of particular matter (PM2.5) from oceangoing vessels. Using those PM2.5 concentrations in cardiopulmonary and lung cancer concentration-risk functions and population models, we estimate annual premature mortality. Without control, our central estimate is approximately 87000 premature deaths annually in 2012. Coastal area control scenarios reduce premature deaths by ∼33500 for the 0.5% case and ∼43500 for the 0.1% case. Where fuel sulfur content is reduced globally to 0.5% S, premature deaths are reduced by ∼41200. These results provide important support that global health benefits are associated with low-sulfur marine fuels, and allow for relative comparison of the benefits of alternative control strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The brick manufacturing industry in Vietnam is developing rapidly to meet rising demand from construction activities. Production is mainly small-scale and without emission control measures, and hence can bring about severe health and environmental impacts including effects on agricultural crops. In this paper, we analyse the current production situation of a brick-making commune in Vietnam and the effects on air quality. A combination of the 'command and control' (such as enforcement of control devices or fuel quality standards) and 'market-based instruments' (such as emission fees) would stimulate the industry to adopt cleaner production measures that would benefit both economy and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association v. Goldstene court case, which involved toxic maritime emission regulation in California. The Ninth Circuit upheld a federal district court's decision that prevents California from enforcing regulations endorsed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which aim to reduce emissions from auxiliary engines on commercial, government and military vessels operating within regulated California waters. According to the court, the regulations are preempted by the Clean Air Act (CAA). The court said that under the CAA the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may authorize California to adopt emission standards. The article reports that the state is seeking such authorization.

We have used a global version of the Regional Air Pollution Information and Simulation (RAINS) model to estimate anthropogenic emissions of the air pollution precursors sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), carbon monoxide (CO), primary carbonaceous particles of black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC) and methane (CH4). We developed two scenarios to constrain the possible range of future emissions. As a baseline, we investigated the future emission levels that would result from the implementation of the already adopted emission control legislation in each country, based on the current national expectations of economic development. Alternatively, we explored the lowest emission levels that could be achieved with the most advanced emission control technologies that are on the market today. This paper describes data sources and our assumptions on activity data, emission factors and the penetration of pollution control measures. We estimate that, with current expectations on future economic development and with the present air quality legislation, global anthropogenic emissions of SO2 and NO x would slightly decrease between 2000 and 2030. For carbonaceous particles and CO, reductions between 20% and 35% are computed, while for CH4 an increase of about 50% is calculated. Full application of currently available emission control technologies, however, could achieve substantially lower emissions levels, with decreases up to 30% for CH4, 40% for CO and BC, and nearly 80% for SO2. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Federal Clean Air Interstate Rule issued in March 2005 will result in many power plants employing ammonia-based technologies to control NO x emission. The Clean Air Mercury Rule, issued at the same time, will encourage many power plants to use various technologies to remove mercury from flue gas, generating fly ashes that contain elevated concentrations of mercury. Ammonia forms relatively strong complexes with mercury compared to most other cationic elements and, therefore, may change the leaching characteristics of mercury. Understanding the impact of ammonia on the leaching of mercury from fly ash is critical in predicting the potential environmental impact of future fly ash. Batch methods were used to investigate the ammonia impact on mercury leaching from fly ash under different pH conditions. The results indicated that mercury leaching without external ammonia addition is not significant. However, ammonia addition increased mercury leaching in the alkaline pH range, due to the formation of less adsorbable mercury–ammonia complexes. Washed ash released more mercury than the raw ash if the ammonia concentration is the same, mainly due to the dissolution of some ash components during washing which exposed more mercury on ash surface. Mercury adsorption data indicated that more than 90% of available mercury was adsorbed by fly ash even in the presence of 1000mgl−1 ammonia addition. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article discusses how the U.S. government enforced the amended Clean Air Act upon grandfathered plants which predated it. Under the 1970 amendment to the Clean Air Act, the Congress decided to subject new sources of air pollution to emission control standards. In the succeeding years, the government required grandfathered plant, which predates the amendment, to be subjected to the same federal standards applied to new sources if a modification caused the plant to emit more pollutants. The desirability of expanded grandfathering of existing sources as a form of transition relief is examined.

The wind erosion of mine tailings is an air pollution concern that has not been investigated thoroughly. Indeed, there is no accurate method to predict fugitive dust emission strength of tailings dumps. This paper reports on the development of a wind erosion model based on the principles of physics. Unlike most wind erosion models developed for agricultural lands or sand dunes, this model takes into account the fluctuations in wind velocity. The model was designed to predict hourly dust emission rate of flat tailings dumps prone to wind erosion for air quality modelling purposes. The model was evaluated using wind tunnel data and field experiments which confirmed the validity of the model for crushed industrial materials. The model was further validated with field experiments undertaken by the authors at the Mantos Blancos mine in Chile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that the upper bound of benefits from removing mercury emissions by U.S. power plants after implementing its Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) is $210 million per year. In contrast, Trasande et al. [Environ Health Perspect 113:590-596 (2005)] estimated that American power plants impose an economic cost of $1.3 billion due to mercury emissions. It is impossible to directly compare these two estimates for a number of reasons, but we are able to compare the assumptions used and how they affect the results. DATA SOURCES AND DATA EXTRACTION: We use Trasande's linear model with a cord/maternal blood ratio of 1.7 and calculate health effects to children whose mothers had blood mercury levels = 4.84 µg/L. DATA SYNTHESIS: We introduce the assumptions that the U.S. EPA used in its Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR) analysis and discuss the implications. Using this approach, it is possible to illustrate why the U.S. EPA assumptions produce a lower estimate. CONCLUSIONS: The introduction of all the U.S. EPA assumptions, except for those related to discounting, decreases the estimated monetized impact of global anthropogenic mercury emissions in the Trasande model by 81%. These assumptions also decrease the estimated impact of U.S. sources (including power plants) by almost 97%. When discounting is included, the U.S. EPA assumptions decrease Trasande's monetized estimate of global impacts by 88% and the impact of U.S. power plants by 98%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the debate on climate policy in the USA focuses on the gain or loss to the macroeconomy of alternative policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, the economy is made up of multiple individuals, not a single representative agent. This article reports the results of alternative ways of distributing emissions allocations across citizens. Macroeconomic effects interact with the policy for distribution, but the distributional weights are more important for the welfare of individual agents than the economy-wide effects of the emissions reductions. Egalitarian distributions of the emissions allowances have the potential to increase the welfare of most people, even if significant emissions reductions are mandated. Focusing on the distribution of emissions allowances (or the revenues generated from an emissions tax) rather than on aggregate GDP may provide guidance in identifying and implementing politically viable solutions to the climate change mitigation problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ukraine, when part of the former Soviet Union, was responsible for about 25% of its overall industrial production. This aging industrial infrastructure continues to emit enormous volumes of air and water pollution and wastes. The National Report on the State of Environment in Ukraine 1999 (Ukraine Ministry of Environmental Protection [MEP], 2000) shows significant air pollution. There are numerous emissions that have been associated with developmental effects, chronic long-term health effects, and cancer. Ukraine also has been identified as a major source of transboundary air pollution for the eastern Mediterranean region. Ukraine's Environment Ministry is not currently able to strategically target high-priority emissions and lacks the resources to address all these problems. For these reasons, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency set up a partnership with Ukraine's Ministry of Environmental Protection to strengthen its capacity to set environmental priorities through the use of comparative environmental risk assessment and economic analysis—the Capacity Building Project. The project is also addressing improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of the use of its National Environmental Protection Fund. The project consists of a series of workshops with Ukrainian MEP officials in comparative risk assessment of air pollutant emissions in several heavily industrialized oblasts; cost–benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis; and environmental finance. Pilot risk assessment analyses have been completed. At the end of the Capacity Building Project it is expected that the use of the National Environmental Protection fund and the regional level oblast environmental protection funds will begin to target and identify the highest health and environmental risk emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article explains a computer simulation analysis of financial incentives to promote the sale and use of cleaner vehicles. The analysis focuses first on feebates, a combination of fees and rebates to promote the sale of cleaner new vehicles. The analysis assumes that buyers of new cars may chose between vehicles fueled by gasoline, alcohol, electricity and compressed natural gas. The market shares for new car sales are based on a discrete-choice model estimated from a stated preference survey in California. The analysis is conducted for a hypothetical air shed to illustrate the feasibility of the simulation method. The simulation analysis shows that feebates can lead to important reductions in hydrocarbon emissions, but the reductions will appear gradually as the newer vehicles displace the older vehicles in the air shed. The analysis then focuses on the emissions reduction that could be achieved by scrappage payments to induce early retirement of older cars. The analysis shows that scrappage payments can lead to large, immediate reduction in emissions. The article concludes with a simulation analysis of a combination of scrappage payments and feebates to achieve both immediate and sustained reductions in vehicle emissions. The simulations demonstrate that the emissions reductions could be achieved with rebates and scrappage payments drawn from a single fund financed by the fees imposed on the sale of new cars with high emissions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Although it has been over two decades since Congress passed the Clean Air Act of 1968, ozone in the lower atmosphere remains a serious environmental concern in the United States. Significant scientific progress has been made over the past three decades, yet many important uncertainties remain unresolved. How to manage in a situation characterized by these uncertainties is a major challenge that must be overcome to develop an effective ozone abatement strategy. In this paper, we describe a decision framework for evaluation of alternative ozone abatement strategies. The framework, which embodies two major components--a simulation module and a decision module--incorporates uncertainty in a dynamic decision-making process and enables evaluation of NOx and VOC controls on a systematic basis. We demonstrate the application of the framework through an illustrative analysis to provide insight into the value of flexible ozone abatement strategies in reducing the total cost of achieving air-quality goals and the tradeoffs between the timing and the accuracy of additional information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to conduct annual auctions of emission allowances. Under the discriminative auction rules, sellers with the lowest asking prices receive the highest bids. This paper studies an inverted version of this auction in which buyers face the same incentives as sellers in the EPA auction. Consistent with theoretical predictions, buyers bid above their valuation, auction outcomes are inefficient, and increasing the number of buyers increases bids. Buyers facing human opponents compete more aggressively than the risk-neutral prediction, but bids do not differ systematically from this prediction when buyers face computerized Nash "robots." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAM) contain several new provisions governing emissions from motor vehicles. These provisions of the 1990 CAAA will have a dramatic impact on the type of cars people drive over the coming decades. Given the high cost of achieving further reductions from automobiles, there has been increasing interest in exploring alternative fuels that improve environmental quality. One important contribution of this study is to highlight the importance of considering transition issues in assessing the cost of alternative fuels. A second contribution of this paper is to demonstrate how the cost-effectiveness of methanol and M85 depends on how a methanoI-based strategy is implemented. The analysis of the costs and effectiveness of methanol and gasoline leads to the following conclusions: (1) transition issues are critical in evaluating the cost and cost-effectiveness of methanol- based fuels; (2) M85 and M100 are likely to be expensive relative to conventional gasoline, particularly in the near term and short term; (3) cost-effectiveness varies dramatically by region, with Los Angeles and New York substantially better than Houston; and (4) widespread introduction of methanol is riot likely to be a cost-effective approach for improving urban air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Using data from the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) program, report that average fine particulate light absorbing carbon (LAC) concentrations in California decreased by about 50% from 0.46 μg m-3 in 1989 to 0.24 μg m-3 in 2008. They attribute most of the LAC decline in California to reductions in the state’s diesel emissions. These findings are encouraging, but in this comment we call attention to a significant methodological issue that can arise in any long-term trends analysis using IMPROVE data. In the Bahadur et al. analysis, LAC data from eighteen remote monitoring sites were aggregated with data from three urban sites that only operated for 1–8 years. The large absolute decrease of 0.22 μg m-3 they reported in the statewide California average was largely driven by one urban site, South Lake Tahoe (Tahoe), which was dropped from the network in mid-1997. LAC concentrations at Tahoe were an order of magnitude higher than those at nearby Bliss State Park indicative of large local source contributions. The exclusion of the three locally influenced urban sites substantially reduces the magnitude of the decreasing LAC trends shown in Bahadur et al., though this does not necessarily invalidate the paper’s conclusion that LAC is broadly decreasing and diesel emission controls are likely to be responsible for part of this decrease. Control of emissions from wood-burning stoves may also have contributed to decreases in LAC and other particulate compounds; like diesel emission controls, this too is an important regulatory success. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

By comparing the ozone depletion potential-weighted anthropogenic emissions of N2O with those of other ozone-depleting substances, we show that N2O emission currently is the single most important ozone-depleting emission and is expected to remain the largest throughout the 21st century. N2O is unregulated by the Montreal Protocol. Limiting future N2O emissions would enhance the recovery of the ozone layer from its depleted state and would also reduce the anthropogenic forcing of the climate system, representing a win-win for both ozone and climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents courses and workshops offered by the Air & Waste Management Association in 2001. Thermal Systems, Combustion, and Air Pollution Control; Basic Emission Inventory Training; Assuring Compliance with the Clean Air Act.