The Problem of Air Pollution in California - Case Study Example

Download file to see previous pages California Environmental Protection Agency reported that 90% of people who are living in the state of California are breathing ‘unhealthy levels of air pollutants’ (CA EPA a). For this reason, the California Air Resources Board regularly monitors the quality of air by taking air samples and conducting laboratory analysis (CA EPA b).

Aiming to combat the high levels of air pollution throughout the state of California, laws, and regulation with regards to air pollution caused by vehicles will be examined followed by discussing several policies and projects related to this matter. Upon identifying the related policies and/or project, the goal of each policy and project will be highlighted.
The U.S. Clean Air Act was passed by Congress, Senate, and the House of Representatives back in 1990. The main purpose of the Act is to ensure that the United States will be able to maintain good air quality standards to protect the health of the local people. Under the supervision of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, anyone who will violate the Act will be punishable by the law either by fine and/or imprisonment of not more than five years (EPA).

Stated under the vehicle code, any person who will be caught “disconnecting, modifying, or altering a required air pollution device which is in violation of Section 27156” will be punished with a fine of US$50 – US$100 for the first offense; US$100 –US$250 for the second offense (CA EPA c). The main purpose of such a law is to encourage vehicle owners to be more concerned with vehicle-related air pollution. Basically, the Department of Motor Vehicles is responsible for the registration of motor vehicles throughout the state of California including the renewal process and conducting the vehicle smog indexing program (CA EPA f). Based on California’s final regulation, the smog score and global warming score should be between 5 – 10 (CA EPA g). ...Download file to see next pagesRead More