The Clean Air Act of 1970 and its amendments (in 1977 and 1990) are crucial milestones in air pollution control history. They are a political response to the increasing concern of society about the environmental impact of fossil fuel utilization. Ironically, it is precisely this fossil fuel utilization that has provided society – and especially the industrialized nations – with the technical and economic means to achieve air pollution control. (Who was it that said, “Thou shalt bear the seeds of thy own destruction”?) It is important to emphasize that technological solutions are available today for reducing pollutant emissions from most sources to environmentally acceptable levels. Unfortunately, what.
