Part 1: Federal Underpinnings of State Fuel Quality Standards

The Clean Air Act (CAA) of 1970 established a statutory basis, at the federal level, for control of air pollution in the U.S., most saliently that of ozone precursors and, by extension, fuel quality standards. This authority was updated and significantly expanded in the 1990 amendments to the CAA.

The CAA empowered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA with authority to regulate the details of implementation of these fuel quality standards. However, the CAA also circumscribed the EPA’s authority in important ways.

The CAA provides the EPA with authority to regulate fuels only to the extent that emissions thereof a) “cause or contribute” to air pollution or water pollution and endanger public health or welfare, and b) “impair to