According to The Good News Network, Scientists at UC Berkeley found California’s air pollution control standards have drastically dropped the amount of diesel particulate matter in the air, and cardiopulmonary deaths attributable to air quality. They found that from the period between 1990 and 2014, the amount of DPM in the California skies fell by 78%, while cardiopulmonary and cancer deaths linked to diesel pollution dropped by 82%.
The scientists of the study suggest the state’s diesel engine standards and other environmental measures that have taken place over the last two decades are the cause to this decrease in toxic air pollution.
One of those measures was the Clean Air Act, which is a United States federal law designed to control air pollution on a national level. It is one of the United States’ first and most influential modern environmental laws and one of the most comprehensive air quality laws in the world.
The last major change in the law, the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, was enacted by Congress in 1990. Legislation passed since then has made several minor changes.
While California’s overall consumption of diesel has increased, mandates to move to more refined fuels and retrofitting existing vehicles with pollution filters have been strategies that have helped the toxic air pollution problem, reports The Good News Network further.
Better refined fuels, moves toward electric vehicles, and better public transportation can make the air pollution issue even better over the next decade.
COMMENTS