Clean Air Act – Taking Toxics Out of the Air - a PDH Online Course for Engineers, Architects and Surveyors

Clean Air Act – Taking Toxics Out of the Air

Course Outline

This four-hour online course reviews the measures taken by the US Environmental Protection Agency to reduce emissions of toxic air pollutants from industrial sources such as chemical plants, wood mills, steel mills and oil refineries. The course presents the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards used by the EPA. Topics covered include the types of toxic air pollutants, their causes and sources and how the health of people and the environment are affected by exposure. Specific sources of air toxics include over 30 types of industries, such as dry cleaners, organic chemical producers, gasoline distribution facilities, lead smelters, paper mills, and mineral wool producers. Specific air pollutants related health effects and how the EPA reduces the amount of emissions via the CAA is discussed. The course presents many links and references to informative sources covered in the text topics. Other contributors of emissions include mobile, accidental releases and forest fires and are not discussed here.

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will:

Understand what toxic air pollutants are and the factors that affect their impact;
Be aware of the types of sources that release air toxics with major emphasis on industrial sources;
Understand what becomes of air toxics after being released into the air;
Be familiar with how people become exposed to air toxics;
Be familiar with the health effects from exposure to toxic air pollutants;
Understand how air toxics emissions affect the environment;
Understand what the EPA and CAA regulations have done to reduce air toxics to protect people and the environment;
Be familiar with the Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards developed by the EPA to control emission levels;
Be aware of on going efforts to improve assessment standards as needed, to consider additional measures when needed and to expand the air toxics monitoring networks for gathering more air toxics data;
Have a better understanding of the impact of source-specific pollutants, which includes ozone, smoke, particulate matter, metals and lead;
Be familiar with reference information and web links for major toxic air pollution by sources, health effects and available measures permitted to reduce exposure; and
Understand the basic provisions of the CAA, the responsibilities of the States and the EPA provisions for various permit programs.

Intended Audience

This course is intended for civil engineers and air quality professionals.

Benefit to Attendees

The student will become familiar with the nature of toxic air pollutants and what measures have been taken to reduce air toxics. The student will consider various sources of air pollution and review the Clean Air Act standards regulating many industries. References for additional information pertaining to toxic air pollution problems, health effects linked to pollution sources and measures taken to reduce exposure to people and environment are provided.

Course Introduction

The 1990 Clean Air Act was enacted by the US Government to reduce smog and air pollution. It was preceded by the 1963 CAA and amended in 1966, 1970 and 1977. The CAA covers the total US but states actually carry out the provisions by holding permit hearings, fining companies for violations, developing state implementation plans and holding cleanup hearings for polluted areas. The US Government provides the research, studies, engineering design and financial assistance for CAA programs. The EPA publication for this course was designed to be used by air quality professionals and others interested in air toxics standards and regulations.
Air pollution has become a serious health problem since air toxics will affect the health of people and especially the young, elderly and those afflicted with respiratory diseases who are especially susceptible to air quality problems. Dust and particulate matter often trigger asthma attacks. Concern over air quality has generated the sale of air cleaning and purification devises, carbon monoxide detectors, electrostatic filters, ultraviolet germicidal irradiation devises in order to protect people or detect indoor air pollutants. The statistics for people affected by allergies, asthma and other respiratory diseases have been increasing for all age groups. Sources of air toxics include:

Industrial operations that release contaminants.
Mobile, accidental releases (spills), and forest fires.
Under performing emission control equipment.
Construction materials releasing solvents and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or chemicals.
Particulate matter and dust.

Air quality and pollution are complex problems, which is hard to target because of ever changing types or levels of pollution and a person’s susceptibility to environmental conditions.

Course Content

This course is based primarily on United States Environmental Protection Agency publication, “Taking Toxics Out of the Air”, EPA- 452/K-00-002 (2000 Edition, 35 pages), PDF file. The course is also based on the US EPA publication, “The Plain English Guide to the CAA”, EPA-456k-07-001 (2007 Edition, 22 pages), PDF file.

The links to the US EPA publications are as follows:

Taking Toxics Out of the Air (PDF)

The Plain English Guide to the CAA (PDF)

Terms (PDF)

All the MACT Standards are summarized in the EPA publication "National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants", (2010 Edition, 5 page Summary), HTM file. PDF files for the Source Categories are at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/mactfnlalph.html

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you still experience any difficulty in downloading or opening this file, you may need to close some applications or reboot your computer to free up some memory.

Course Summary

This course considers the toxic air pollution sources, health risks and actions taken by the EPA to regulate and improve the air quality via the 1990 CAA. The course presents the methods and actions used for reducing toxics being emitted by various types of industries including dry cleaners, gasoline distributor facilities, printing and publishing and Portland cement manufacturing. Informative references for major air pollutants are provided for the sources, health effects and necessary steps to control and reduce exposure for each type of toxic air pollutant.

Related Links

For additional technical information related to this subject, please refer to:

http://www.aqs.com/iaq/default.asp,
The site provides an introduction to health and IAQ, sick building syndrome causes, diagnostic quick reference and diagnostic checklists to target the most likely building pollution problems. Information and reference material about IAQ improvement and point source controls are presented.

http://www.epa.gov/iaq/atozindex.html.
IAQ topics for buildings, schools, home, FAQ, information and guidance for air quality regulations.

http://www.epa.gov/iaq/largebuildings/ibeam_page.htm.
IAQ for large buildings using I-BEAM developed by the EPA to be used by building professionals and others interested in IAQ in commercial buildings.

http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/
EPA’s technical Air Toxics Website includes efforts being taken to reduce air toxics.

http://www.epa.gov.tri/
Toxic Release Inventories provide information on over 650 toxic chemicals used, manufactured, treated or released into the environment.

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.