International Regulation of Urban Smog Since the 1940s - Air Pollution and Global Warming: History, Science, and Solutions - page 204

for home heating and cooking. Coal burning produces
sulfur dioxide and soot aerosol particles. Coal emis-
sions from homes and industry, combined with other
pollutants from automobile exhaust, frequently create
dark skies over Johannesburg. Cape Town, a coastal
city, is cleaner than Johannesburg. However, it still has
pollution problems, particularly from nitrogen dioxide
formed following vehicle emissions of NO(g).
In 1965, South Africa initiated the Atmospheric Pol-
lution Prevention Act .Thislawresulted in the regula-
tion of fuel burning emissions from industries, hotels,
dairies, and dry cleaners. It also declared specified res-
idential areas where open burning normally occurred
as smokefree zones and required smoke and SO 2 (g)
monitoring. The law, however, was largely ineffective
because it ignored numerous sources that, in aggregate,
degraded air quality.
Following the end of apartheid, the 1996 Constitution
of South Africa guaranteed everyone the right (a) “to an
environment that is not harmful to their health or well-
being” and (b) “to have the environment protected for
the benefit of present and future generations through
reasonable legislative and other measures.” In Octo-
ber 1997, a white paper on environmental management
called for South Africa's Department of Environment
Affairs and Tourism to regulate and combat air pollu-
tion, particularly from coal and fuel burning, vehicle
exhaust, mining, industrial activity, and incineration.
Although emission regulations followed, they were not
enforced strictly.
To address pollution more formally, South Africa
enacted the National Environment Management:
Air Quality Act in 2004. The purpose of the act
was to protect human health and well-being, prevent
air pollution and ecological degradation, and secure
ecologically sustainable development while promoting
justifiable economic and social development. The act
gave the Minister of the Environment the authority and
duty to monitor and regulate ambient pollution concen-
trations and emissions from point, nonpoint, and mobile
sources. It also allowed provinces to set standards equal
to or stricter than national standards. The act provided
for an ambient PM 10 standard, but not a PM 2.5 stan-
dard. Sources of PM 2.5 in South Africa include not only
industrial and vehicle combustion, but also desert dust
from the Kalahari Desert and other arid regions of the
country. Particulate matter air pollution in some regions
of South Africa is still among the greatest worldwide.
In an effort to chip away at additional sources of pollu-
tion, South Africa passed a National Air Quality Act
that came into effect April 1, 2010. The law requires

regulation of emissions from the mineral, metallurgi-
cal, chemical processing, and waste disposal industries.

8.2.17. Australia
Air pollution problems have historically been less
severe in Australia than in many other countries, par-
ticularly because Australian cities are less populated
and have fewer sources of pollution than do more pol-
luted cities. Australia is also surrounded by oceans,
so it does not receive much transboundary air pollu-
tion. The sulfur contents of coal and oil in Australia
are lower than are those in other countries. Coal-fired
power plants are also located away from urban areas.
As a result, sulfur dioxide mixing ratios in Australian
cities are relatively low. Sydney and Melbourne occa-
sionally have bad air pollution days, particularly in sum-
mer and autumn. Street-level pollution is also signifi-
cant due to the omnipresence of automobiles, trucks,
and buses.
Vehicles are the largest source of air pollution in
Australia. The first light-duty vehicle emission stan-
dards were set in the early 1970s. In 1976, Australian
Design Rule (ADR) 30/00 required all new diesel vehi-
cles to meet smoke opacity standards. Catalytic convert-
ers were required for new passenger vehicles starting
in 1986. The first diesel emission standards became
effective under an ADR in 1995. In 2002, more strin-
gent ADRs regulated emissions from both gasoline and
diesel vehicles. These standards began to converge with
U.S. and EU emission standards.
Emission standards in Australia are generally set by
states and territories, not by the national government.
Forexample, the South Australian government passed
the Environmental Protection (Air Quality) Policy in
1994, which set standards for emissions of dark smoke,
lead, antimony, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nitrogen
oxides, nitric acid, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, flu-
orine, hydrofluoric acid, chlorine, and carbon monoxide
from stationary sources. The government similarly set
rules for the open burning of waste in 1994 and for
vehicle fuel composition in 2002.
The first national ambient air quality standards in
Australia were passed as part of the National Envi-
ronment Protection Measure (NEPM) for Ambi-
ent Air Quality in 1998. Pollutants covered included
CO(g), NO 2 (g), O 3 (g), SO 2 (g), lead, and PM 10 .In
2001, an NEPM was passed to monitor and repair
dirty diesel vehicles for their NO x (g) and PM emis-
sions. This NEPM was updated in 2009. In 2004, an
NEPM for Air Toxics was passed to monitor five toxics: