Air Quality Management in The United States

Recognizing the central role that science and engineering plays in air quality management and anticipating the next congressional reauthorization of the Clean Air Act and its amendments, the United States Congress directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to arrange for a study by the National Academy of Sciences (1) to evaluate from a scientific and technical perspective the effectiveness of the major air quality provisions of the Clean Air Act and their implementation by federal, state, tribal, and local government agencies; and (2) to develop scientific and technical recommendations for strengthening the nation’s air quality management system with respect to the way it identifies and incorporates important sources of exposure to humans and ecosystems and integrates new understandings of human and ecosystem risks. In response, the National Research Council established the Committee on Air Quality Management in the United States, which prepared this report. Biosketches of the committee members are presented in Appendix A.
In the course of preparing this report, the committee met in public sessions in Washington, D.C.; Denver, Colorado; Los Angeles, California; and Atlanta, Georgia, where local, state, and federal officials and representatives from the private sector and nongovernmental organizations, including regulated industries and advocacy groups, were invited to meet with the committee and present their views on air quality management.