http://www.ametsoc.org/Sloan/cleanair/index.html
Our atmosphere is something we have taken for granted in the past, but, in the last forty years or so, scientists, elected officials, and the general public have begun to realize the effects of pollutants on the air we breathe. It is now recognized that pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides, and particulates released into the atmosphere as a result of energy generation, industrial development, and increased use of motor vehicles, have serious heath and environmental consequences.
Clean air and air pollution have been public issues for centuries. In 1306 King Edward I of England issued a proclamation banning the use of sea coal in London due to the smoke it caused. Over the next few centuries, additional efforts were made in Great Britain to reduce the amount of smoke in the air. The first attempt to control air pollution in the United States occurred during the industrial revolution. The cities of Chicago and Cincinnati enacted clean air legislation in 1881. Subsequently, other cities, towns, and regions slowly began enforcing their own clean air policies. At the beginning of this century, the Bureau of Mines, under the Department of the Interior, created an Office of Air Pollution to control smoke emissions, but the office was soon eliminated due to inactivity. During the late 1940s serious smog incidents in Los Angeles and Donora, Pennsylvania raised public awareness and concern about this issue once again. In 1955, the government decided that this problem needed to be dealt with on a national level. The Air Pollution Control Act of 1955, was the first in a series of clean air and air quality control acts which are still in effect and continue to be revised and amended.
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1952 DECEMBER 4-8
DEADLY SMOG IN LONDON, ENGLAND
Due to rapid urbanization and industrialization and on account of the high pressure weather system which created an inversion, a heavy smog settled on the city of London. This smog, or fog mixed with smoke and other particulates, lasted for four days causing thousands of deaths and even more illnesses. This prompted the passing of Great Britain's first Clean Air Act in 1956.
1974
THE CATALYTIC CONVERTER IS INTRODUCED
In the Clean Air Act of 1970, President Richard Nixon Called for a reduction in motor vehicle emissions which the automobile companies thought was impossible. The catalytic converter was then invented which proved these companies wrong and reduced motor vehicle emissions of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and hydrocarbon.
1978
LEAD PAINTS ARE BANNED
In an effort to limit the amount of lead in the atmosphere and the amount of cases of lead poisoning, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission banned the use of lead paints.
1974 JUNE 28
CFCs LEAD TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE OZONE LAYER
Scientists at the University of California at Irvine discovered and announced that the release of chlorofluorocarbons into the atmosphere, with the help of sunlight, leads to the destruction of stratospheric ozone.
1978 MARCH 17
UNITED STATES BANS CFCs
CFCs, chorofluorocarbons, have been proven to lead to the destruction of stratospheric ozone which may result in holes in this ozone layer that allow harmful ultraviolet rays to reach the earth. In an effort to stop ozone destruction, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Food and Drug Administration announced a ban on these chemicals.
1980s
RADON IS FOUND TO BE AN INDOOR AIR HAZARD
Radon gas, which is a radioactive decay product of uranium, has been known to cause thousands of deaths from cancer each year. Due to these deaths and the fact that many homes were found to have hazardous levels of this gas, the Environmental Protection Agency began an indoor air research program, and it issued the Radon Gas and Indoor Air Quality Research Act.
1984 DECEMBER 3
DEADLY GAS IS EMITTED IN BHOPAL, INDIA
A massive leak of methyl isocyanate from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal caused thousands of deaths and injuries to the residents of the city. This disaster woke the world to the dangers of toxic chemicals in the atmosphere.
1985 MAY 16
HOLE IN THE OZONE LAYER IS DISCOVERED
The British Antarctic Survey reported reductions in the amount of stratospheric ozone over Halley Bay in Antarctica which ultimately led to a hole in the ozone layer. Scientists were then able to partially attribute the cause to the concentrations of CFCs, chlorofluorocarbons, in the atmosphere.
1988 OCTOBER 14
UNITED STATES PASSES ALTERNATIVE MOTOR FUELS ACT
This act required a number of government vehicles to use alternative fuels, such as methanol and ethanol, which gave the automobile industry incentive to develop these fuels and design automobiles to use them.
1990 NOVEMBER 5
THE POLLUTION PREVENTION ACT IS PASSED
This act was to go beyond the legislation for clean air and clean water, and it would deal with pollution at the source. Specifically, this law mandated the founding of the of the Office of Pollution Prevention within the Environmental Protection Agency, the authorization of funds to states in order to develop source-reduction programs, and the requirement of businesses to report toxic substance amounts in the air.
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http://www.ace.mmu.ac.uk/eae/air_quality/older/history.html
History of Air Pollution
Air pollution, particularly in cities, is certainly not a new problem. Back in the Middle Ages the use of coal in cities such as London was beginning to escalate. The problems of poor urban air quality even as early as the end of the 16th century are well documented.
In the UK the Industrial Revolution during the 18th and 19th centuries was based on the use of coal. Industries were often located in towns and cities, and together with the burning of coal in homes for domestic heat, urban air pollution levels often reached very high levels. During foggy conditions, pollution levels escalated and urban smogs (smoke and fog) were formed. These often brought cities to a halt, disrupting traffic but more dangerously causing death rates to dramatically rise. The effects of this pollution on buildings and vegetation also became obvious. The 1875 Public Health Act contained a smoke abatement section to try and reduce smoke pollution in urban areas.
During the first part of the 20th century, tighter industrial controls lead to a reduction in smog pollution in urban areas. The 1926 Smoke Abatement Act was aimed at reducing smoke emissions from industrial sources, but despite the declining importance of coal as a domestic fuel, pollution from domestic sources remained significant.
The Great London Smog of 1952, which resulted in around 4,000 extra deaths in the city, led to the introduction of the Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968. These introduced smokeless zones in urban areas, with a tall chimney policy to help disperse industrial air pollutants away from built up areas into the atmosphere.
Following the Clean Air Acts, air quality improvements continued throughout the 1970s. Further regulations were introduced through the 1974 Control of Air Pollution Act. This included regulations for the composition of motor fuel and limits for the sulphur content of industrial fuel oil.
However, during the 1980s the number of motor vehicles in urban areas steadily increased and air quality problems associated with motor vehicles became more prevalent. In the early 1980s, the main interest was the effects of lead pollution on human health, but by the late 1980s and early 1990s, the effects of other motor vehicle pollutants became a major concern. The 1990s have seen the occurrence of wintertime and summertime smogs. These are not caused by smoke and sulphur dioxide pollution but by chemical reactions occurring between motor vehicle pollutants and sunlight. These are known as ephotochemical smogsf.
In 1995, the Government passed its Environment Act, requiring the publication of a National Air Quality Strategy to set standards for the regulation of the most common air pollutants. Published in 1997, the National Air Quality Strategy has set commitments for local authorities to achieve new air quality objectives throughout the UK by 2005. It is reviewed periodically.
Industry & Power Generation
Industry and power generation are main sources of sulphur dioxide emissions, a common air pollutant and the precursor for sulphuric acid in acid rain. In the UK power stations and all other types of industry account for 90% of all sulphur dioxide pollution.
During the Industrial Revolution industries were often located in urban areas. Following the UK Clean Air Acts in the 1950s and 1960s, and with the decline in heavy industry, few large industries and power stations are located in towns and cities today. Many large industries are now located in the more rural areas of the UK. Consequently, sulphur dioxide pollution in urban areas has been significantly reduced. The requirement of industries and power stations to disperse waste gases at elevated levels via a stack or chimney has also helped to reduce ground level concentrations of sulphur dioxide. However, this has significantly expanded the area of pollution dispersal, such that acid deposition is now the main pollution concern attributable to industry and power generation.
Power stations contribute significantly to the total emissions of nitrogen oxides in the UK. In 1999, 21% of nitrogen oxides came from this source and a further 13% from other industries, iron and steel and refineries. The major source of nitrogen oxides pollution in the UK is now road transport (44%). Like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides are also converted into acidic compounds when combined with water in the atmosphere, and contribute to acid rain.
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http://www.mothersforcleanair.org/aqinfo/basics/history.htm
History of Air Pollution
Air pollution is not a new phenomenon. In fact it has been a problem since 900 BC when Hit, a town located West of Babylon, was the center of asphalt mining. King Tukulti, an Egyptian king, visited the town and reported a strange smell in the air generated by the ulmeta rocks. These rocks are high in sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide.
Centuries later in 1157, Eleanor, Henry II's wife, left her home in Nottingham, England because the pollution caused by burning wood was "unbearable." In the 1300s England began to use coal instead of wood for heat, causing major air pollution problems. To clean up London's air, King Edward I, outlawed coal burning exclaiming, "cwhosoever shall be found guilty of burning coal shall suffer the loss of his head."
Meuse Valley, Belgium
In the 20th century a number of air pollution disasters occurred around the world. In 1930 in Meuse Valley, Belgium, the 15-mile valley trapped pollutants released by coke ovens, steel mills, blast furnaces, zinc smelters, glass factories, and sulfuric acid plants. Industrial pollution in the form of sulfur dioxide killed 63 people and made 600 more ill. Sulfur dioxide and fog droplets combust to form tiny particles that penetrate deeply into the lungs.
Donora, Pennsylvania
In 1948, the United States experienced its first major air pollution catastrophe in Donora, Pennsylvania. Effluents from a number of industries, including a sulfuric acid plant, a steel mill, and a zinc production plant, became trapped in a valley by a temperature inversion and produced an un-breathable mixture of fog and pollution. Six-thousand suffered illnesses ranging from sore throats to nausea. There were 20 deaths in three days. Sulfur dioxide was estimated to reach levels as high as 5,500 ug/m3.
London, England
Known today as "The London Fog," London experienced the worst air pollution disaster ever reported from December 5 to 8, 1952. With daily temperatures below average, fireplaces and industries supplied pollutants that combined with condensation in the air to form a dense fog. Concentrations of pollutants reached very high levels under these adverse conditions. The fog finally cleared away, but four thousand Londoners had perished.
Bhopal, India
Perhaps the biggest air pollution disaster of all time occurred in Bhopal, India in 1984 when a toxic cloud drifted over the city from the Union Carbide pesticide plant. This gas leak managed to kill twenty thousand people and permanently injure a whopping 120,000.
In Houston there have been no large-scale air pollution disasters, but due to the toxins produced by the vast petrochemical industry, Harris County is the third highest toxic air polluter among all the counties in the US. Environmental Defense ranks the county among the top 10% of counties in the country for added cancer and non-cancer risk due to toxic air pollution. The Administration's recent cutbacks of the Clean Air Act only add to the intensity of the issue. Carelessly regulated industry can lead to dangerous consequences. It is a form of social injustice that must not be tolerated, for the sake of the health of those who live near and downwind of these industries.
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geocities.com/infinitusproeliator)