What is the California Clean Air Acts connection to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)?
The federal EPA has no direct role in implementing the California Clean Air Act. However, there is some collaboration concerning State Implementation Plans (SIP). A State Implementation Plan is a document prepared by each state describing existing air quality conditions and measures that will be taken to attain and maintain federal ambient air quality standards. At times, local districts utilize rules for both state and federal purposes. For example, if a rule is intended to satisfy federal requirements, it is submitted to EPA for approval as part of the State Implementation Plan. After it is submitted, it becomes federally enforceable as well as enforceable by the state. The EPA can directly enforce the SIP if a source is a particularly egregious violator or if they believe the local agency is not taking sufficient enforcement actions. The EPA also has national emission standards for certain source categories. For example, federal law prohibits states from adopting vehicle emission st
