United States yearbook - 1982 (1)

1 9 8 Geography and Environment
Environment.—Ths CEQ is responsible for coordinating all environmental quality programs, recommending
national environmental policies, analyzing changes and trends in the environment, and
lor reviewing Federal programs affecting the environment. It reports on its activities in its annual
publication, Environm ental Quality. The principal Federal agency responsible for research and enforcement
activities related to pollution abatement and control is the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA). It is also responsible for establishing and monitoring national air quality standards.
Air sampling, conducted by the Public Health Service, began in 17 communities in 1953; in 1957
the National Air Surveillance Network was established and, by the late 1960’s, covered approximately
260 urban and 30 rural stations. The operation of the stations was decentralized in 1972 to
the 10 regional EPA offices and many of the stations were in turn assimilated into State and locally
operated air monitoring networks. The Network determines the extent and nature of air pollution
and studies trends in levels of atmospheric contaminants.
National Ambient Air Quality Standards for suspended particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, oxidants,
carbon monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide were set by EPA in April 1971. Responsibility for demonstrating
compliance with or progress toward achieving these standards lies with the State agencies.
There are approximately 3,500 non-Federal sampling stations for suspended particulates, almost
1,000 for sulfur oxides, 460 for carbon monoxide, 720 for photochemical oxidants, and 950 for nitrogen
oxides. Data from these State networks are periodically submitted to EPA’s National Aerometric
Data Bank for summarization in quarterly reports on the nationwide status of, and trends in,
air quality; for details, see N ational A ir Pollutant Emission Estim ates, 1940-B0.
Pollution abatement and control expenditures.—Data on expenditures for pollution abatement
and control are compiled and published by the Office of Management and Budget the U.S.
Bureau of Economic Analysis (8EA), the U.S. Bureau of the Census, and the CEQ as part of ongoing
programs. OMB collects and publishes figures annually on Federal funds spent for pollution
abatement and control in The Budget o f the U nited States Government. BEA conducts surveys on
national expenditures for pollution abatement and control and presents the data in its Survey o f
Current Business. The U.S. Bureau of the Census collects data on State and local government and
industry expenditures on control activities. Data on government expenditures are reported in the
annual Environm ental Q uality Control: Government Finances. Industry data are reported annually in
Current Industrial Reports. CEQ publishes data in Environmental Quality.
Climate.—NOAA, through the National Weather Service and the Environmental Data Information
Service, is responsible for data on climate. NOAA maintains about 11,500 weather stations, of
which over 3,000 produce autographic precipitation records, about 600 take automatic or hourly
readings of a series of weather elements, and the remainder record data once a day. These data
are reported on monthly, with an annual summary, in C lim atological D ata: N ational Summary and
Local C lim atological Data.
Nearly all weather stations have been moved several times in their history. Consequently, NOAA
uses "normal" values of temperature and precipitation for comparative purposes rather than the
daily, monthly, and yeariy averages which have been derived from records accumulated at the different
locations the stations may have had over the years. "Normal" values are obtained by adding
the high and low values for a specified period and dividing by 2.
The base period for the normal values of temperature and precipitation is currently the 30-year
period, 1941 through 1970; in late 1982, normal values for the period, 1951 through 1980 will be
available. For stations having records for the entire 30 years from the same instrument site, monthly
precipitation and temperature normals are the arithmetic averages of the monthly values for the
30 years. The annual normal temperature is obtained by dividing the sum of the monthly normals by
12.
For stations that did not have continuous records from the same instrument site for the entire 30
years, 1941 through 1970, the means have been adjusted to the record at the present site. In these
adjustments, a “ difference factor" was used for temperature and a “ ratio factor" for precipitation.
These factors were determined by parallel comparison with other nearby stations that have a continuous
record for the 30-year period to obtain the resultant adjustment factors. Normals were
thereafter obtained by the method described above.
The heating degree-day normals are derived from the monthly mean temperatures, and computed
to base 65° F. The heating degree day has been defined as follows; “ A unit, based upon temperature
difference and time, used in estimating fuel consumption and specifying nominal heating
load in winter. For any one day, when the mean temperature is less than 65° F., there exist as
many degree days as there are Fahrenheit degree differences in the temperature between the
average temperature for the day and 65“ F.”
Historical statistics.—'Tabular headnotes provide cross-references, where applicable, to H istoric
a l S tatistics o f the U nited States, Colonial Times to 1970. See Appendix I.