On-Road Vehicle Emissions: Regulations, Costs, and Benefits

摘要

In response to continuing pollution problems, in 1990 Congress passed the Clean Air Act Amendments, many parts of which deal with motor vehicles. Motor vehicles are the primary source of urban carbon monoxide (CO) and are an important source of the hydrocarbons (HC) and oxides of nitrogen (NO_x) that are responsible for the formation of photochemical smog and ground-level ozone (1). Cost estimates for implementing the act's mobile source provisions range up to 12 billion dollar annually (2). Thus itis important to analyze the scientific basis for these legislative programs (1).