{
  "id": "RL31515",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL31515",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 101331,
      "date": "2002-07-22",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:06:41.282941",
      "title": "Air Toxics: What Progress Has EPA Made in Regulating Hazardous Air Pollutants?",
      "summary": "The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 contained four programs to ensure that the\nEnvironmental\nProtection Agency (EPA) would regulate hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) more quickly than the\nAgency had under the original act. The first program directed EPA to establish emission standards\nfor stationary sources of HAPs based on maximum achievable control technology (MACT). The\nsecond program, known as the residual risk program, required EPA to examine the risk remaining\nfrom these sources after implementation of MACT standards. If warranted, EPA must promulgate\nadditional standards to protect public health or the environment. Third, Congress instructed EPA to\nregulate HAPs that are a particular problem for urban areas. Fourth, Congress directed EPA to\nevaluate mobile sources, such as cars, to determine their HAP emissions and to regulate these\nsources.\n  EPA has made progress in regulating HAPs under some of these programs, particularly in\ncomparison to its pre-1990 record (when only 7 HAPs were regulated over a 20-year period). But\nthe pace of regulation has fallen behind that envisioned in the 1990 Amendments. Under the MACT\nprogram, for example, the Agency originally named 174 source categories subject to regulation for\ntheir HAP emissions. In the statute, Congress specified that MACT standards for all of these\ncategories were to be promulgated by November 15, 2000. By May 15, 2002, EPA still had not\npromulgated final standards for 56 source categories (a little less than one-third of those to be\nregulated), covering a combined total of 84,000 major emitting sources.\n  Under the 1990 amendments, if EPA has not promulgated standards by 18 months after the\ndeadline, states and industries must develop MACT standards themselves. Rather than allow this\n\"hammer\" to strike, however, EPA issued a rule in April 2002 that will give these sources until May\n15, 2004 to develop MACT standards. The Sierra Club has filed suit challenging the deadline\nextension.\n  The residual risk program, intended to examine whether risk remains after MACT standards\nare implemented, is also behind schedule. The first residual risk standards, for coke ovens, were due\nin 2001; 12 other categories are to be reviewed before the end of 2002. While EPA has developed\na methodology for determining residual risk, the methodology and the availability of the data for\nconducting the analyses have been questioned by the Agency's Science Advisory Board. It is\nunlikely that EPA will meet deadlines for residual risk standards.\n  Both the urban air toxics and mobile source air toxics programs have also been delayed.\nQuestions have been raised regarding the adequacy of the mobile source air toxics standards; most\nstandards for urban air toxics have yet to be promulgated.\n  Issues for Congress include the adequacy of Agency resources for the HAPs programs; the\nfeasibility of the residual risk program, given inadequacies of the available data and concerns over\nthe risk assessment methodology; and whether the Agency is complying with congressional intent\nin key areas of the HAPs programs. This report will be updated as events warrant.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "encoding": null,
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL31515",
          "sha1": "0144faee97310c2940fe71eacc7aeb5690613f91",
          "filename": "files/20020722_RL31515_0144faee97310c2940fe71eacc7aeb5690613f91.pdf",
          "images": null
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20020722_RL31515_0144faee97310c2940fe71eacc7aeb5690613f91.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Environmental Policy"
  ]
}