16 em january 2005 awma.org

emfeature

In celebration of EM’s 10th anniversary,we invited several authors to review the past, present, andfuture of air quality management. Their views range widely,though the scope of these articles is, necessarily, limited to afraction of the issues covered by EM. We thank the authors ofthe seven articles in this issue for offering their perspectives onthe past and their hopes for the future.

We begin with an inspirational article by U.S. Environmen-tal Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Mike Leavitt en-couraging each generation to do its part to improve air quality.We have accomplished much, but much work remains. EPA ispreparing to adopt rules that Leavitt believes “will make thenext 15 years one of the most productive periods of air qualityimprovement in America’s history.”

For an international view of both air and waste manage-ment, the next article introduces the tri-national Commissionfor Environmental Cooperation (CEC). The year before thelaunch of EM, Canada, Mexico, and the United States signedthe North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), whichincluded provisions to protect the environment. The threecountries established CEC to promote environmental coop-eration and facilitate implementation of the NAFTA. Paul Miller,program coordinator for air quality, shares his views on CEC’smission, activities relating to air and waste management, and arecent performance assessment.

Bill Becker and Nancy Kruger, executive director and deputydirector, respectively, of the associations of U.S. state and localair pollution control officials, provide an alternative vision forimproving air quality. Part of that vision advocates requiringstate-of-the-art controls for all new major stationary sources.

The next three articles highlight views representing ma-jor sectors affecting air quality: electric power generation,automobiles, and the oil and natural gas industry. John

Kinsman and Steve Lomax (Edison Electric Institute), andC.V. Mathai (Arizona Public Service Co.) chart progress inreducing emissions from electric generating stations and ad-vocate legislation to establish a market-based multipollutantstrategy, stabilizing requirements. James Ehlmann and GeorgeWolff (General Motors) chronicle significant improvementsin automobile emissions and predict continued progress.Howard Feldman (American Petroleum Institute) calls forcomprehensive energy legislation to facilitate constructionor expansion of refineries.

Finally, illustrative of ongoing work to advance the scien-tific basis for air quality management, Art Werner (MACTEC)and David Mobley (EPA) review progress in quantifying air pol-lutant emissions and call for a concerted effort to improve emis-sions inventories.

Since EM premiered in the mid-1990s, EPA revised the Na-tional Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone andparticulate matter and developed major new strategies to re-duce these pollutants both regionally and nationally. Closelyparalleling the United States, both Canada and Mexico ex-panded their pollution management activities for ozone andparticulate matter, realizing major improvements in air pollu-tion reduction across North America. In addition to dealingwith these “criteria pollutants,” increasing efforts have beendevoted to reducing hazardous air pollutant emissions.

The articles published in this special anniversary issuepresent complementary views about progress made usingfederal and state regulations as leverage, and the response

Susan S.G. Wierman (swierman@marama.org) is executivedirector of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Air Management Association,

Baltimore, MD. Wierman is the chair of EM’s Editorial AdvisoryCommittee and is also a member of the A&WMA Board of

Directors. George M. Hidy (dhidy113@comcast.net) is a principalof Envair/Aerochem, Placitas, NM. He is Co-Editor of the Journal

of the Air & Waste Management Association.

AN INTRODUCTION TOTHE 10TH ANNIVERSARY

ISSUE

Copyright 2004 Air & Waste Management Association

awma.org january 2005 em 17

of major industries. Both progress toward clean air and theconcomitant investments in emissions reduction have beensubstantial. Still, the public demands better air quality, andscientists improve tools for assessing the nature and causesof air pollution. As noted by EPA Administrator Leavitt, “Eachgeneration builds upon the work of those who came before.”

This is an important time to focus on air quality policy inthe United States. In addition to EPA’s pending regulatory ac-tions, as directed by Congress, EPA recently sponsored a Na-tional Academy of Sciences study of the scientific and technicalfoundation of air quality management. The resulting report(Chameides, W.; Greenbaum, D., et al. Air Quality Manage-ment in the United States; National Research Council; The Na-tional Academies Press: Washington, DC, 2004)recommendsseveral actions to improve air quality policy:

• Strengthen the scientific and technical capacity ofthe air quality management system to assess risk andtrack progress.

• Expand national and multistate performance-oriented control strategies to support local, state,and tribal efforts.

• Transform the state implementation plan processinto a more dynamic and collaborative perfor-mance-oriented, multipollutant air quality manage-ment plan.

• Develop an integrated program for criteria pollut-ants and hazardous air pollutants.

• Enhance protection of ecosystems and other aspectsof public welfare.

In mid-January, EPA’s Clean Air Act Advisory Committee isscheduled to provide advice on how to respond to the report.Meanwhile, states and local agencies have begun developingnew plans to bring air quality into compliance with the revisedNAAQS for ozone and fine particulates.

Over its first decade, EM has served readers broadly by pro-viding a digest of information and views of governments andthe private sector on regulatory science and technological out-look for pollution management. In the next decade, air qualityissues are likely to transcend the criteria pollutants to includeincreasing concerns about the toxicity of components of par-ticulate matter and the management of hazardous air pollut-ants. Potentially as important are concerns for the managementof pollutants affecting the Earth’s climate. EM has its work cutout for it to stay current on these and other topics and to in-form readers about the issues involved in curtailing pollutionon all temporal and spatial scales.

We congratulate the authors and staff of EM for a job welldone over the first 10 years, and urge them continue to servemembers in the next decade and beyond. We encourage EMreaders to share their thoughts on and visions for the future ofair quality and waste management in a letter to the editor (sendcorrespondence to: Editor, EM, Air & Waste Management As-sociation, One Gateway Center, Third Floor, 420 Ft. DuquesneBlvd., Pittsburgh, PA 15222-1435; fax: 1-412-3450; e-mail:lbucher@awma.org).

Susan Wierman George HidyEAC Chair JA&WMA Co-Editor

em

Fill out the online membership form or call the A&WMA MembershipDepartment directly at +1-412-232-3444.Organizational Membership includes the following benefits:✔ One Deluxe Membership for the primary organizational member,

who will receive both EM and the Journal.✔ Additional employees at the current organizational member’s

address can become individual members of A&WMA for $55.00USD per year instead of $150.00 USD.

✔ Organizational members may purchase a library subscription toEM or the Journal for only $75.00 USD per year.

✔ Organizational Members will be listed in each issue of EM and inthe Annual Conference & Exhibition program.

✔ Organizational Members receive discounts on certain exhibits andadvertising opportunities with A&WMA.

ORGANIZATIONAL MEMBERS as of 10/31/04• 3M• Abbott Laboratories• Allegheny County Health Dept.• American Petroleum Institute (API)• Andrews Environmental Engineering, Inc.• Anniston Army Depot -

Directorate of Risk Manangement• Aquila, Inc.• ARCADIS G & M, Inc.• Archer Daniels Midland Company• ASMD Library, US EPA NERL• Barr Engineering Company• Battelle• Bay Area Air Quality Management District• BP Exploration (Alaska), Inc.• bwa Waste Reduction Center• Calgon Carbon Corporation• California Army National Guard - Env. Programs• California Air Resources Board• Canadian ORTECH Environmental Inc.• Capital Regional District - Environmental Services• City of Dallas - Office of Environmental Quality• City of Indianapolis, Office of Environmental Services• City of Toronto, City Hall• Clark County, Dept. of Air Quality Mgmt.• Clark County Dept. of Aviation• Coleraine Minerals Research Laboratory• Colorado Springs Utilities• Conneticut Dept. of Environmental Protection• Controlled Environment Equipment Corp.• Cornell University, Environmental Compliance Office• Coso Operating Company • Dept. of Environment - Perth, Australia• Dept. of Environmental Quality, Portland, OR• Desert Research Institute,

Southern Nevada Science Center• Desert Research Institute,

Northern Nevada Science Center• Dow Chemical• Earth Consulting Group, Inc.• Earth Research Group, Inc.• Earth Tech - Roswell, GA• Earth Tech - Concord, MA• Eastern Research Group• Eli Lilly and Company• ENSR Corporation - Camarillo• ENSR Corporation - Houston• ENSR International• ENVIRON• Environmental Protection Division, Victoria BC• Environmental Quality Management - Cincinnati• EPC - Hillsborough County• Epsilon Associates• Golder Associates• HAZCLEAN Environmental Consultants, Inc.• Hill Air Force Base• Hitz American, Inc.• Hospira Inc.• Idaho Dept. of Environmental Quality• Indiana Dept. of Environmental Management• International Company for Petroleum Waste• International Truck and Engine Corp.• Japan Burner Research Association• Kentuckiana Engineering Company• Kentucky Business Environmental Program• Kuwait National Petroleum Company• Lakeland College • Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power• Louisiana Dept. of Environmental Quality• Lurgi Lentjes North America, Inc.

• MACTEC Engineering and Consulting• Maricopa County - Air Quality Division• Maryland Dept. of the Environment• Mecklenburg County Air Quality• METCO Environmental• Mid-Atlantic Regional Air Management Assoc.• Ministry of the Environment,

Integrated Env. Planning Division• Minnesota Pollution Control Agency• Mississippi Dept. of Environmental Quality• Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District• Montana - Dakota Utilities Company• NC DENR - Division of Air Quality• Nevada Dept. of Environmental Protection• New United Motors Mfg., Inc. (NUMMI)• Norwegian Institute for Air Research• O`Brien & Gere Engineers, Inc. - Syracuse, NY• O`Brien & Gere Engineers, Inc. - Blue Bell, PA• Olympic Region Clean Air Agency• Ontario Ministry of the Environment,

Env. Assessment & Approvals Branch• Orange County Government• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory• Palm Beach County Public Health• Parsons• Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection -

NW Region• Penobscot Indian Nation• Perma-Fix Environmental Services• PPG Industries-Allison Park, PA• PPG Industries-Lake Charles, LA• Regional Air Pollution Control Agency (RAPCA)• Research Triangle Institute• Robinson & Wood, Inc.• RW Beck, Inc.• San Diego County Air Pollution Control District• San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District• Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District• Saudi Aramco Environmental Protection Dept.• Saudi Company for Environmental Works• Schreiber, Yonley & Associates• Scientific Control Laboratories• Sierra Research• Silver State Analytical Laboratories• Sonoma Technology• South Coast Air Quality Management District• Southern California Edison• Southern Company• Southwest Clean Air Agency• STS Consultants, Ltd.• Taiwan Power Company• Tampa Electric Company• Tennessee Air Pollution Control• TRC Environmental Corp.• Trinity Consultants, Atlanta• Trinity Consultants, Dallas• Tucson Electric Power Company• TW Environmental• URS Corp. / Salt Lake City• US Army Garrision, Fort Detrick• US EPA Region 4 - Air, Pesticides

& Toxics Management Division• US EPA Region 6 Employees’ Association• US EPA Region 7• US EPA/NRMRL/APPCD• US Navy, Engineering Service Center - Port Hueneme• Utah Div. of Air Quality• Virginia Dept. of Environmental Quality• WA State Dept. of Corrections• Wenck Associates

Copyright 2004 Air & Waste Management Association