What Is a Smog Abatement?

Smog, a term originally used to describe a combination of smoke and fog, is created by industry and automobile pollution. Reducing and halting smog is the goal of pollution abatement laws.

Legislation

• The Clean Air Act of 1970 was the first comprehensive federal legislation that regulated smog and issued specific pollution abatement standards.

Federal Regulation

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), created by legislation passed in 1970, coordinates regulation and enforcement of federal smog abatement laws.

State Regulation

• Federal legislation requires states to meet standards regulating particulate, nitrate, sulfur, acid and nitrogen oxide levels. Failure to meet safe levels is enforced by the threat of a reduction in federal funds provided to the state.

Types of Abatement

• Smog abatement includes manufacturing autos with catalytic converters, use of filters on factories and installation of scrubbers on utility stacks. The EPA reported a reduction in airborne lead, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, ground-level ozone and particulates in 2007, compared with 1990 levels.

Warning

• The EPA warns that failure to abate smog results in environmental damage including a reduction in vegetation growth, decline in visibility, as well as health problems that include cardiovascular and respiratory disease and damage to the human nervous system. Cancer deaths are also linked to smog, according to the EPA.