Clean Air Act Benefits and Costs
According to an EPA study in 1998, the Clean Air Act cost Americans about half-a-trillion dollars and provided a benefit of $21.5 trillion. Benefits were looked at for a number of factors, including improved public health and avoided food crop damage. If the Clean Air Act had not been enacted by 1990, 205,000 Americans would have died prematurely and millions more would have suffered from respiratory illnesses ranging from mild to severe.
Throughout the Clean Air Act, questions have been raised as whether the health benefits of air pollution control justify the costs incurred by industry and taxpayers. The broader question is simple: How do the overall health, welfare, ecological and economic benefits of the Clean Air Act compare to these high cost programs? The saving of human and animal health and our food crops is reason enough to continue with programs to clean up the air, to protect lives and crops.
Let’s Clean Up Our Air!
Paving over land increases overall temperatures – and ozone forms more quickly at higher temperatures. More than one-half of commuting trips and 3 out of 4 shopping trips are less than 5 miles in length – perfect for cycling. For example: if Santa Barbara County could replace just 3% of its car and light truck trips with bike trips, they could reduce emissions of smog-forming pollutants in this California county by 9 tons monthly.
We Need the Clean Air Act!
The results indicate that the benefits of the Clean Air Act and associated control programs substantially exceeded costs. A second important implication of this study is that a large proportion of the cost benefits of the Clean Air Act reducing comes in two major smog pollutants: lead and particulate matter. Not only monetarily, but from a health standpoint as well, the Clean Air Act is vitally needed and important!
Rank Metropolitan Area Status
1 LOS ANGELES EXTREME
2 HOUSTON SEVERE
3 NEW YORK - NEW JERSEY - SEVERE
CONNECTICUT
4 ATLANTA SERIOUS
5 WASHINGTON, DC - SERIOUS
BALTIMORE
6 DALLAS - FT. WORTH SERIOUS
7 PHILADELPHIA SERIOUS
8 SACRAMENTO SERIOUS
9 SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA N/A
10 ST. LOUIS MODERATE
11 SAN DIEGO SERIOUS
12 PHOENIX SERIOUS
13 PITTSBURGH MODERATE
14 CHICAGO SEVERE
15 CINCINNATI MODERATE
15 Worst Cities for Smog – Air Pollution*
* Data obtained from a 1998 EPA – Air Quality Division,
Aeormetric Information Retrieval System Report.
