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  • Written by Ann E. Carlson, Professor of Environmental Law, University of California, Los Angeles

Cars on the road today are 99% cleaner[1] than they were in 1970. Air quality in the United States is much, much better as a result. In Los Angeles, where I live, lead levels in the air were 50 times higher[2] in the 1970s than today, and the amount of lead in kids’ blood has plummeted.

What made that drop possible is arguably the most important environmental technology ever invented: the catalytic converter.

California has long had the authority under the federal Clean Air Act[3] to set emissions standards for cars and trucks that are higher than the nation’s, and its early use of that authority is a major reason why catalytic converters are now standard in vehicles and people are healthier across the country.

At a time when the Trump administration is attacking California’s ability to cut air and climate pollution and revoking its Clean Air Act waivers[4], it’s helpful to remember just how important the state’s leadership has been in making the air Americans breathe so much healthier.

A view of downtown LA through smog
In this 1973 photo, Los Angeles’ downtown high-rise buildings are obscured by a blanket of smog. UCLA Library Special Collections/Whitney Fitzgerald/Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection, CC BY[5][6]

As I recount in my forthcoming book, “Smog and Sunshine: The Surprising Story of How Los Angeles Cleaned Up Its Air[7],” California’s role in the emergence of catalytic technology is often downplayed. The passage of the 1970 Clean Air Act is typically given the credit[8]. That law deserves accolades for its key role. So does William Ruckelshaus[9], the first administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

But without California’s willingness in the early 1970s to push automakers to meet tough standards, the technology would have developed more slowly and the air would have remained dirtier for many more years.

Birth of the catalytic converter

Eugene Houdry invented the first catalytic converter technology[10] in the 1950s. Years earlier, he had developed the Houdry process for catalytic cracking[11], which makes converting crude oil into gasoline much easier. That invention in the mid-1930s helped spur the mass adoption of cars and trucks in the U.S.

Widespread car ownership altered American life, changing where people lived, worked and vacationed. But cars also brought terrible smog as their use skyrocketed. When Houdry realized his life’s work was choking the air of Los Angeles, he decided to do something about it. By the late 1950s, Houdry had invented a rudimentary catalytic converter[12].

What is a catalytic converter? The Engineers Post

You might think that this invention, which Houdry said could make “the lung cancer curve dip[13],” would lead carmakers to install the technology on their new vehicles.

But that is not what happened. Instead, auto manufacturers engaged in what the government described as a yearslong conspiracy[14] to keep emissions-limiting technology off the market, ultimately leading to an antitrust legal settlement[15].

It wasn’t until the passage of the 1970 Clean Air Act that carmakers got serious about improving upon Houdry’s invention for mass market installation.

The Clean Air Act’s ambition

The 1970 Clean Air Act is a remarkable piece of legislation. Passed with only one negative vote[16] and signed into law by President Richard Nixon, the act set wildly ambitious goals. They included a requirement that carmakers cut auto pollutants by 90% by 1975[17].

Congress passed this requirement knowing that the technology to cut emissions wasn’t ready for prime time. Houdry’s catalytic invention couldn’t work with leaded gasoline, and it hadn’t been tested in tough conditions, such as freezing cold or sweltering heat.

The Ford Motor Co., with Lee Iacocca as its president, told Congress[18] in 1970, “If such (pollution cuts) are established … the technology as we know it today would not permit us to continue to produce cars after January 1, 1975.”

A man leans on a 1970s-ear car with two more behind him.
Ford Motor Co. President Lee Iacocca leans against a Ford Mustang in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., in 1974. John Olson/Getty Images[19]

Congress ignored Ford’s dire warning and passed the stringent cuts[20].

Automakers responded with two separate tactics. The first was to gear up[21] – alongside companies like Corning Glass and the Engelhard Company – to develop technology to meet the 90% cuts. Most of their efforts focused on improving the catalytic converter, made more plausible when Engelhard determined that catalytic converters wouldn’t corrode with unleaded gasoline. The EPA’s Ruckelshaus ordered gas stations to make unleaded gasoline available[22] as of Jan. 1, 1975.

While the auto companies worked to meet the congressional mandate, they also pressured Congress and the courts to weaken or delay it. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit obliged, ordering Ruckelshaus to extend the deadline for compliance by a year[23]. Congress eventually extended the deadline to 1981[24].

But California did not let up.

A gamble that paid off

California has the authority under federal law[25] to issue its own automobile pollution standards, as long as the standards are stronger than federal standards and the state receives a waiver from the EPA. No other state has similar power, but states can adopt California’s[26] higher standards.

After the federal appeals court gave carmakers an extra year to comply with the federal rules, California decided it would not let car companies off the hook.

The state asked Ruckelshaus to grant a waiver for California to issue standards tough enough that carmakers would have to install catalytic technology to meet them.

Half a dozen people sitting on motorcycles and wearing gas masks. After several of its motorcycle messengers became ill from driving in smog in 1955, a Los Angeles printing company bought gas masks for them. Bettmann via Getty Images[27]

Ruckelshaus faced enormous pressure to deny the waiver[28], with automakers arguing that the technology was neither effective nor available. But in a hint of the resolve he would later show in refusing Nixon’s order to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox, Ruckelshaus gave California the go-ahead[29] in 1973, and the state’s rules went into effect for the 1975 model year.

He reasoned that doing so would maintain “continued momentum toward installation of (catalyst) systems … while minimizing risks incident to national introduction of a new technology.” In other words, California could serve as a guinea pig for the rest of the country by adopting tough standards.

Ann Carlson and PBS’s “American Experience” explore Los Angeles’ war on smog.

The gamble paid off. Since California was the nation’s largest auto market[30], companies had strong economic incentives to change their models to meet the state’s standards. Catalytic technology is now not only standard on American vehicles but also on vehicles around the world, and air quality in the U.S. is vastly improved.

With the adoption of the catalytic converter, leaded gasoline was banned and eventually phased out[31], and lead levels began to drop almost immediately.

Continuing California’s legacy

Catalytic converters have removed 8 billion tons[32] of pollution from the air in the U.S. They have saved hundreds of thousands of lives and led to the removal of a deadly neurotoxin, lead, from the atmosphere.

California’s standards have spurred important technological innovations for vehicles[33], including new types of less-polluting gasoline and vehicles that emit no pollution at all[34].

But the state’s ability to set higher standards is under attack. Congress – at the behest of the Trump administration – has overturned three waivers[35] the state was granted to cut even more pollutants and the greenhouse gases that cause climate change. The Trump administration has also sued California[36] to invalidate its mandates for automakers to sell zero-emissions vehicles.

Today, California officials are searching for alternative ways to continue to make cars and trucks cleaner. The state has set aside money[37] to replace federal tax incentives for electric vehicles, and the Legislature is exploring creative ways to hold indirect sources of emissions[38], such as rail yards, ports and warehouses where vehicles are constantly running, accountable for air pollution.

But these alternatives aren’t as powerful as the authority to exceed federal standards to make the air cleaner.

References

  1. ^ 99% cleaner (www.epa.gov)
  2. ^ 50 times higher (ww2.arb.ca.gov)
  3. ^ Clean Air Act (www.congress.gov)
  4. ^ revoking its Clean Air Act waivers (www.politico.com)
  5. ^ UCLA Library Special Collections/Whitney Fitzgerald/Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection (digital.library.ucla.edu)
  6. ^ CC BY (creativecommons.org)
  7. ^ Smog and Sunshine: The Surprising Story of How Los Angeles Cleaned Up Its Air (smogandsunshine.com)
  8. ^ given the credit (pgmoftexas.com)
  9. ^ William Ruckelshaus (www.nytimes.com)
  10. ^ invented the first catalytic converter technology (www.nytimes.com)
  11. ^ Houdry process for catalytic cracking (www.acs.org)
  12. ^ had invented a rudimentary catalytic converter (www.environmentandsociety.org)
  13. ^ could make “the lung cancer curve dip (www.inventionandtech.com)
  14. ^ yearslong conspiracy (online.ucpress.edu)
  15. ^ antitrust legal settlement (www.nytimes.com)
  16. ^ one negative vote (michiganintheworld.history.lsa.umich.edu)
  17. ^ cut auto pollutants by 90% by 1975 (www.congress.gov)
  18. ^ told Congress (catalog.hathitrust.org)
  19. ^ John Olson/Getty Images (www.gettyimages.com)
  20. ^ passed the stringent cuts (michiganintheworld.history.lsa.umich.edu)
  21. ^ to gear up (www.inventionandtech.com)
  22. ^ ordered gas stations to make unleaded gasoline available (www.elr.info)
  23. ^ extend the deadline for compliance by a year (law.justia.com)
  24. ^ extended the deadline to 1981 (www.congress.gov)
  25. ^ authority under federal law (www.law.cornell.edu)
  26. ^ can adopt California’s (www.congress.gov)
  27. ^ Bettmann via Getty Images (www.gettyimages.com)
  28. ^ faced enormous pressure to deny the waiver (smogandsunshine.com)
  29. ^ gave California the go-ahead (www.federalregister.gov)
  30. ^ nation’s largest auto market (www.fhwa.dot.gov)
  31. ^ leaded gasoline was banned and eventually phased out (www.epa.gov)
  32. ^ 8 billion tons (attheu.utah.edu)
  33. ^ important technological innovations for vehicles (ww2.arb.ca.gov)
  34. ^ vehicles that emit no pollution at all (calmatters.org)
  35. ^ overturned three waivers (www.yalejreg.com)
  36. ^ sued California (www.justice.gov)
  37. ^ set aside money (www.politico.com)
  38. ^ hold indirect sources of emissions (legiscan.com)

Authors: Ann E. Carlson, Professor of Environmental Law, University of California, Los Angeles

Read more https://theconversation.com/how-californias-war-on-smog-and-its-ambitious-car-pollution-rules-made-everyones-air-cleaner-279533