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Scientific understanding that human activities were changing the world's climate in a dangerous way by increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gasesbecamefirmerinthe 1980sas earlier uncertainties were decreased by accumulating scientific evidence. In 1987, during the second term of President Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), the United Nations formed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (Gilman and Larry)

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The United States is the world's third most populous country. It is also its wealthiest and most militarily powerful country, its largest consumer of energy, and its second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases (just behind China, which edged it out in 2007). Its policy on global warmingis therefore an important influence on the actions of other countries and future global climate. (Gilman and Larry)

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regulators, policy makers and environmental law academics presented ways to more effectively enforce existing regulations via technology, increased citizen involvement, traditional and social media, more efficient rules and increased transparency. (Emissions Regulations and Controls

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In Massachusetts v. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA), No. 05-1120, 549 U.S.___ (2007), the U.S. SUPREME COURT was asked to determine whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had the statutory authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles; and if so, whether EPA's stated reasons for declining to act were consistent with the statute. In a narrow 5-4 landmark decision, the Court found that gases which cause global warming were pollutants under the federal Clean Air Act; that EPA did indeed have the statutory authority to regulate them; and that it had acted arbitrarily and capriciously in refusing to exercise that authority. (Clean Air Act).

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The U.S. policy on climate change can be divided roughly into three periods. The first was the early period of growing awareness from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, when scientific understanding of the reality of anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change was just beginning to become clear. The United States participated in worldwide negotiations that led in 1992 to the creation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a nonbinding treaty calling for reductions in greenhouse emissions worldwide (Gilman and Larry)

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Maintenance is critical to preventing degradation of equipment performance and the need for repair. Practices need to be codified to assure that equipment is installed, used and maintained properly. This calls for personnel training, published requirements and recording equipment repairs. Documentation subject to audit will hold maintenance leaders accountable for acceptable equipment performance. Repairs need to be done in a timely manner within a defined period to eliminate the creation of long lists of documented problems that are never addressed. Putting more effort into preventive and sustaining maintenance rather than monitoring all potential emission points and building large databases will result in low emissions and economically profitable plant sites. ( Emissions Regulations and Control)

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To monitor pollution escaping the borders of a plant site, optical instruments would be set at the fence lines. Unlike ambient air monitors, the data from these systems would be directly applicable to the plant. Data on the type and quantity of pollutants crossing the fence line can be integrated with meteorological data to triangulate the general location of the source and alert plant personnel to use the FLIR and OVA instruments to find the leak points for correction. ( Emissions Regulations and Control)

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Pollution levels are a key measure of success. The U.S. promotes measurement of every potential leak point at least once, and in some cases, multiple times a year. Each time, leak levels must be recorded and reported. The advantages of this approach are that specific components are identified and corrected. The drawbacks are the cost of deploying personnel to monitor tens of thousands of components and administering large amounts of data. ( Emissions Regulations and Control)

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The objectives of the regulatory system would be the protection of public and environmental health and milestone measures of environmental quality with recognition of economic effects. These intents would serve as check points for all the regulations. If a regulatory action does not support these objectives, it should be abandoned.

Definitions would include pollutants, leak levels, stationary industrial pollution sources, stationary small commercial sources, equipment types and performance and enforcing authorities. Pollutants would be defined as any substances that cause harm to those to be protected in the objectives. These could be broken down by general chemical categories - for example organic, inorganic, VOC and so on. Reference could be made to how substances are to be added or removed from the list. Some substances may be banned from production or use. ( Emissions Regulations and Control)

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Ambient pollution data will lead enforcers to impose emission limits on regional polluters, but enforcers defer to the polluters with regard to the technologies needed to meet these limits. A plant site can apply to the responsible authority for permission to emit a given amount of pollutant, which can be accepted, rejected or negotiated to an acceptable level. The system of permits forces transparency on the part of both polluters and enforcers; polluters must publish what they emit, and enforcers' expectations are transparent by agreeing to a level of performance. ( Emissions Regulations and Control)

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U.S. refusal of mandatory emissions caps has been cited by China and other developing nations as justifying their own refusal of such caps. In turn, the non-capping of developing nations' emissions by the Kyoto Protocol has been cited by the United States as a reason for refusing caps. In any case, current U.S. policy will not result in reduced greenhouse emissions in the foreseeable future. According to the 2007 United States Climate Action Report—a report required at regular intervals by the UNFCCC and released by the administration itself— the Bush administration's intensity-based climate policy will have resulted in an 11% increase in U.S. greenhouse emissions from 2002 to 2012. This would be only .6% less than the growth over 1992-2002. Critics have argued that the administration's climate policy has been little different from “business as usual.” (Gilman and Larry)

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Gilman, Larry. "United States: Climate Policy." Climate Change: In Context, edited by Brenda Wilmoth Lerner and K. Lee Lerner, vol. 2, Gale, 2008, pp. 874-879. In Context Series. Science In Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3079000257/SCIC?u=pl2020&sid=SCIC&xid=d20638e4. Accessed 19 Nov. 2018.

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On March 10, 2008, a proposed GHG emissions reporting rule that would apply to large sources was signed by the EPA administrator. It would require suppliers of fossil fuels or industrial greenhouse gases, manufacturers of vehicles and engines and facilities that emit 25,000 metric tons or more per year of GHG emissions to submit annual reports to EPA. (Barnes and Lisa)

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Barnes, Lisa S. "States leading on greenhouse gas emissions reporting regulation." EHS Today, May 2009, p. 26+. Environmental Studies and Policy Collection, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A200343801/PPES?u=pl2020&sid=PPES&xid=644cc252. Accessed 19 Nov. 2018.

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European Union. In the E.U., best available control technology (BACT), flexibility and public participation are foundational. Sites apply for permits to emit, which are subject to authorities' discretion, taking into account the site's performance record, location and local environment. Equipment must be qualified before use. ( Emissions Regulations and Control)

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Taiwan. Taiwan has a central enforcement authority and regulations defining the use of BAT. It embraces technology to electronically report air-monitoring data and uses computer simulations to model air quality. ( Emissions Regulations and Control)

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Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia manages air pollution by measuring air quality, and enforcement is at the discretion of a designated agency. ( Emissions Regulations and Control)

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Singapore. Singapore requires monitoring by qualified providers. Like Thailand and Japan, performance is assessed from atmospheric air monitoring at specific locations. Sites are encouraged to use best available technologies (BAT), and a central authority can inspect and demand compliance if levels are beyond allowable limits. ( Emissions Regulations and Control)

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China. China has a tradition of citizen action via a system of letters and visits for making complaints about polluters. Chinese pollution laws seek to balance environmental protection, public health and economic development. In other countries this concept is understood in practice, but not codified. At present, enforcement is weak and at the discretion of regional authorities. ( Emissions Regulations and Control)

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India. In India, plant sites are motivated by high litigation costs and financial sanctions, which take the form of limiting or denying access to bank loan guarantees and subsidies. While monitoring is not mandated, it must be done as a consequence of the requirement to report each year's emission quantities. ( Emissions Regulations and Control)

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Japan. Japan has a similar approach, but with stronger enforcement. The country assigns maximum emission levels to each site based on atmospheric air monitoring. Each site is responsible for self-monitoring and using the best technologies to limit emissions. Corporate responsibility motivates plant sites to do the right thing, and media attention and popular indignation are effective motivators. ( Emissions Regulations and Control)

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Thailand. Thailand, for example, extensively monitors ambient air in areas of concentrated industrial activity, such as Rayong Province. While there is no strong central enforcement authority, social pressure motivates polluters to comply. ( Emissions Regulations and Control)

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The U.S. is notorious for rigorous, detailed regulations. The administering agency, the EPA, has fostered a culture of doing only what is necessary to comply, no more or less. In recent years, enforcers have promoted prevention via the latest technology, expressed as "Next Generation Compliance ( Emissions Regulations and Control).

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Development of a patented low-emission valve stem seal, motivated by the California Clean Air Act, marked the beginning of products and services for achieving low to zero emissions from the millions of point sources in U.S. Government policy and laws aimed at protecting public health  and the environment ( Emissions Regulations and Control)

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Fugitive emissions, as the term implies, are unintentional releases, unlike process emissions that are known and expected. Fugitive emissions include leakage from valve stem seals, flange joints, pressure relief valves, compressors, threaded connections and other sources. These leaks are relatively small, but subject to a multiplier effect from some 10,000 chemical and petroleum refinery sites, each with tens of thousands of point sources and nearly a million pipeline compressor-pumping stations, tank terminals and natural-gas well heads, each with hundreds of point sources of fugitive emissions ( Emissions Regulations and Control).

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Regulating industrial pollution has largely been relegated to individual national governments. For example, there is a company that manufactured Flyash handling systems. These systems conveyed ash particles captured by electrostatic precipitators, baghouses and cyclone dust collectors. The sole purpose of these systems was to prevent millions of tons of ash particles from entering the air we breathe and sequestering them for safe storage, a business owing its existence to the Clean Air Act of 1970 ( Emissions Regulations and Control).

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"Emissions Regulations and Control." Chemical Engineering, 1 Oct. 2015. Academic OneFile, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A457871500/AONE?u=pl2020&sid=AONE&xid=3eb90de2. Accessed 19 Nov. 2018.

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Fugitive emissions are managed in a variety of ways around the world, ranging from detailed prescriptive control to suggested guidance. Motivating industrial sites to reduce pollution are government enforcers, the public and media. A combination of qualifying equipment, best available control technology and vigilant maintenance all work toward minimizing emissions. The advent of new technologies is also giving rise to new ideas for more effective pollution control. Knowledge of the regulations and of past outcomes combined with a view toward new technologies in monitoring, leak control and data acquisition can help lead to an optimized global approach for emissions control and regulations based on best practices (Emissions Regulations and Control).

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Wherry, Aaron, and Andrew Leach. "The levy is dry: long-promised emissions regulations for the oil and gas industry aren't likely any time soon." Maclean's, 28 July 2014, p. 20. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A376509571/OVIC?u=pl2020&sid=OVIC&xid=ecc5b09e. Accessed 19 Nov. 2018.

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The Court found that greenhouse gases fit well within the definition of "air pollutants" contemplated by the Clean Air Act. Therefore, EPA does have the authority to regulate them. Even though regulating motor vehicle emissions may not by itself reverse global warming, this does not mean that the Court does not have jurisdiction to decide whether EPA has a duty to act to slow or reduce it (Clean Air Act)

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The prospect that human activity has significantly contributed to an increase in "greenhouse gases," which, in turn, causes global warming, has suffered from less-than-convincing consensus over the years. It has only been since 2006–2007 that at least a clear majority of respected scientific opinions has so concluded, despite the existence of impressive data supporting that conclusion for at least two decades (Clean Air Act).

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Japan has a similar approach, but with stronger enforcement. The country assigns maximum emission levels to each site based on atmospheric air monitoring. Each site is responsible for self-monitoring and using the best technologies to limit emissions (Wherry et al.).

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The EPA denied the administrative petition, stating that it lacked authority to regulate such gases. It argued, in part, that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were naturally occurring substances in the atmosphere and therefore did not constitute "air pollutants" within the meaning of the Clean Air Act (Clean Air Act).

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"Clean Air Act." American Law Yearbook 2007, Gale, 2008, pp. 34-37. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX2689900022/OVIC?u=pl2020&sid=OVIC&xid=83440b6d. Accessed 19 Nov. 2018.

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"The regulation of power plant emissions has been a major component of EPA oversight because coal has been the fuel of choice for most power plants. Despite warnings and regulations that seek to define the scope of environmental oversight, energy producers sometimes run afoul and trigger legal controversies, such as court cases. (Clean Air Act).

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"The Clean Air Act, which is enforced by the ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, regulates the release of air pollutants. Since its enactment in 1963 the Clean Air Act has been amended by Congress several times to strengthen its regulatory powers when it comes to emission (Clean Air Act).