The U.S. Clean Air Act: dynamics of development

Abstract

This exploratory study of the US Clean Air Act development finds that regulatory policy shifts have taken place since 1970s. The focus of this paper is section 109 of the Act which gives the agency discretion to determine standards for nonthreshold pollutants irrespective of compliance costs. On the positive side, the EPA is delegated the power to use its expertise for environmental rulemaking, on the negative side, however, the delegation generates influence activities by interest groups. To mitigate the negative impact, the study recommends changing the text of section 109 to include Congress' intent on the relevance of costs.