Managing the nation's air quality is a complex undertaking, involving tens of thousands of people in regulating thousands of pollution sources. The authors identify what has worked and what has not, and they offer wide-ranging recommendations for setting future priorities, making difficult choices, and increasing innovation. This new book explores how to better integrate scientific advances and new technologies into the air quality management system. The volume reviews the three-decade history of governmental efforts toward cleaner air, discussing how air quality standards are set and results measured, the design and implementation of control strategies, regulatory processes and procedures, special issues with mobile pollution sources, and more. The book looks at efforts to spur social and behavioral changes that affect air quality, the effectiveness of market-based instruments for air quality regulation, and many other aspects of the issue. Rich in technical detail, this book will be of interest to all those engaged in air quality management: scientists, engineers, industrial managers, law makers, regulators, health officials, clean-air advocates, and concerned citizens.

"The combination of scientific and institutional integrity represented by this book is unusual. It should be a model for future endeavors to help quantify environmental risk as a basis for good decisionmaking." â€"William D. Ruckelshaus, from the foreword. This volume, prepared under the auspices of the Health Effects Institute, an independent research organization created and funded jointly by the Environmental Protection Agency and the automobile industry, brings together experts on atmospheric exposure and on the biological effects of toxic substances to examine what is knownâ€"and not knownâ€"about the human health risks of automotive emissions.

Regional management has taken on a new role and is becoming more important. This book explores the challenges of European, US and Asian companies. It outlinines how regional headquarters can develop into Dynamic Competence Relay centers to master these challenges.

Emissions inspection and maintenance (I/M) programs subject vehicles to periodic inspections of their emission control systems. Despite widespread use of these programs in air-quality management, policy makers and the public have found a number of problems associated with them. Prominent among these issues is the perception that emissions benefits and other impacts of I/M programs have not been evaluated adequately. Evaluating Vehicle Emissions Inspection and Maintenance Programs assesses the effectiveness of these programs for reducing mobile source emissions. In this report, the committee evaluates the differences in the characteristics of motor vehicle emissions in areas with and without I/M programs, identifies criteria and methodologies for their evaluation, and recommends improvements to the programs. Most useful of all, this book will help summarize the observed benefits of these programs and how they can be redirected in the future to increase their effectiveness.