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EMISSIONS AND TIER 4 EMISSIONS & IT4


CLEANER AIR FOR EVERYONE


PART1


A Brief History in Clean Air Developments


AN EVOLUTION OF CLEAN AIR IN NORTH AMERICA AND HOW ENGINE EMISSION REGULATIONS AFFECT YOU


One thing is clear — the air we breathe is getting cleaner, thanks to years of work by the engine and equipment manufacturers, prodded by the environmental agencies and the Clean Air Act.


EMISSIONS ARTICLE


Since the middle of the 20th Century, the U.S. government — and other governments around the world — have been working to clean our air. In the United States, it started in 1955 when the U.S. Congress passed the Air Pollution Control Act. This was the fi rst time the government had formally identifi ed air pollution as a national problem and identifi ed pollution as a risk to the public’s health and welfare. It also marked the beginning of funding to research methods to improve air quality.


Eight years later Congress passed the original Clean Air Act of 1963. It set standards for emissions on stationary sources of pollution (e.g., power plants, steel mills). In 1965 an amendment to the Clean Air Act called the Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Act set the fi rst federal emission reduction standards for automobiles, starting with the 1968 models.


EPA Is Established


Another major milestone for a cleaner environment was the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, otherwise known as EPA. That took place in 1970 during the Clean Air Act extension. EPA was established — in part — to help enforce the


regulations set forth by the amended Clean Air Act. The rewritten version of the Clean Air Act set new national standards for ambient air quality and “new-source” performance standards that strictly regulated emissions of a new source (e.g., automobiles, factories) entering an area.


Also, parts of the Clean Air Act extension were new standards for hazardous emissions from motor vehicles. They included carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, lead and particulate matter. These emissions are still of primary concern today and are a large part of the emission standards — such as Interim Tier 4 and Final Tier 4 — that are required for the future.


To combat the hazardous emissions from motor vehicles, the automotive manufacturing industry incorporated the catalytic converter. It made its debut in 1975 as a method to reduce automobile emissions. It soon became a regular part of a vehicle exhaust system.


1977 Amendment


The next signifi cant update to the Clean Air Act was in 1977. Among the amendments was the creation of the New Source Review, which was responsible for helping older facilities (power plants, manufacturing plants, etc.) that were previously grandfathered in to the Clean Air Act to undergo environmental testing and install pollution controls during facility expansions. The 1977 amendment


also, for the fi rst time, set standards for lead in gasoline used in vehicles, such as automobiles and light trucks.


The last noteworthy amendment to the Clean Air Act happened in 1990. It placed emphasis on prohibiting leaded gasoline after 1995; it addressed acid rain, ozone depletion and toxic air pollution; and it created a national permits program, known as “emissions trading.” This was done to encourage companies to minimize air pollution with incentives for meeting air quality regulations. Companies could purchase emission credits to emit specifi c volumes of air pollution — or trade permits with other companies — but they were not allowed to exceed a cap.


1990 Amendment


Shortly after the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act, new emission standards were announced for cars and light trucks. It was a two-tier system that started in 1994 and was completed in 2010. Meanwhile, heavy duty trucks and buses also followed new emission requirements. The fi nal tier for cars, light trucks, heavy duty trucks and buses is comparable to Tier 4 standards for nonroad equipment. Construction equipment was the last required category to meet the air quality controls, but now the nonroad equipment is entering the fi nal phases of EPA emission standards to virtually eliminate any harmful pollutants.


(Continued on page 4) WORKSAVER BobCatalog 2011 3


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