Controlling metropolitan pollution through regional airsheds: Administrative requirements and political problems

This is an evaluation of the regional approach to controlling air pollution, in the light of the New York metropolitan
experience, and recent federal and state legislative developments. Regional airsheds are defined
and their administrative advantages delineated. The political difficulties involved in establishing and
managing regional control districts, such as jurisdictional and regulatory problems, are also discussed.
This paper touches upon the extent and adequacy of present day coordination and cooperation between
agencies in the New York metropolitan area, as illustrated by the failure of the alert system during the
Thanksgiving 1966 air pollution "episode." The conflicting approaches of regional air quality commissions
and the Mid-Atlantic States Air Pollution Control Compact are stressed. The desirability of such
federal and state legislative proposals, and the advantages and drawbacks of special districts and other
institutional arrangements to solve regional problems are also evaluated.