Clean Air

Clean Air

Air pollution has long been one of the most significant negative impacts of industrial society. Smoggy cities lead to increased asthma rates and carbon emissions currently threaten the global environment. Under the Clean Air Act, and its various amendments, the Environmental Protection Agency is empowered to regulate American industry to minimize or eliminate the dangers posed by airborne contaminants. In 1990, Congress set up a cap-and-trade program to deal with emissions that caused acid rain and ozone depletion. It is a striking success.

Commentary

Clean Fuels Standard

Northeast Clean Fuels Standard = Thousands of Jobs, Billions of Dollars

August 16, 2011

A new clean fuels law proposes thousands of new jobs and significant health benefits. 

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Why on Earth Do We Listen to Those Who Cry Wolf?

Why on Earth Do We Listen to Those Who Cry Wolf?

July 28, 2011

The NRDC online magazine, OnEarth.org, highlights the Cry Wolf Project as a resource that "helps cut through the confusion about why we appear to be losing ground in the fight for public concern about climate change."

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Republicans Can't Name A Single "Job Killer" Regulation

January 25, 2011

By James Lardner. ReMapping Debate. January 25, 2011.

"Job-killing regulations? Opponents fail to support claims with evidence" investigates the right-wing’s persistent use of “job killer” rhetoric to describe anything they don’t like. Environmental legislation is often the target, and the examples used here are entirely from that subject area.  Lardner has done a lot of original reporting, including an interview with Eban Goodstein, an economist well-versed in these subjects. Goodstein says “The dollar costs of environmental regulation…have typically been too small — no more than about 2 percent of overall production costs — to cause a company to consider relocating to a foreign country.” These anti-regulatory attacks never consider the job-producing effects of regulation either. Although the author interviews many anti-regulation Republicans, not a single one can name an instance of a previous environmental regulation or law that killed jobs.

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US Capitol building

Darrel Issa’s Government Handover

January 05, 2011

By Donald Cohen and Peter Dreier. Posted on Huffington Post. January 5, 2011.

Newly emboldened as chair of the House’s key investigative committee, California Cong. Darrell Issa, the conservative Republican, sent letters to more than 150 business lobby groups, asking them to identify government rules that they want eliminated.

Issa wants to hand the government over to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a who’s who of corporate America. The new Republican Congress is their opportunity to get rid of those pesky environmental laws, consumer product safety laws and even rules to prevent another Wall St. financial train wreck.

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Cry Wolf Quotes

At its worst, the Clean Air Act speaks of the potential wholesale shutdown of industrial facilities should a state not be able to attain the standards by set dates -- 1982 and 1987. At its best, the act will require the imposition of new and expensive technology and will severely limit the location of new industry in major metropolitan areas.

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Angelo Sirancusa, representing coalition of major industry. The Washington Post.
01/15/1977 | Full Details | Law(s): Clean Air Act of 1977

In order for the [CO2] emissions reductions to be reached that are required under the Act, energy prices have to go up. Gasoline, diesel fuel, electricity… otherwise it won’t change consumer behavior.

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Gregory Scott, executive vice president and general counsel at the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association. Environment and Energy News.
05/19/2010 | Full Details | Law(s): American Power Act of 2010

Additional money spent on secondary cleanup standards is not going to make that much difference in air quality, but it will hurt the American steel industry….In short, if it did not have to meet environmental requirements, the steel industry would have the capital to increase its annual shipments from 92 million tons in 1981 to 105 million tons in 1990….The need to meet future environmental requirements will reduce this expansion to 96 million tons.

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The American Steel Institute, Washington Dateline.
07/27/1981 | Full Details | Law(s): Clean Air Act of 1977

The people in this room have the same amount of lead in their blood as do the natives in New Guinea. If you take lead out of the air, you’ll still have it in your body.

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George Rausch, a professor from Tulane University, The Los Angeles Times.
10/28/1971 | Full Details | Law(s): Phase Out of Leaded Gasoline
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Related Laws and Rules

Evidence

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Backgrounders & Briefs

Good Rules: Ten Stories Of Successful Regulation

Demos looks at ten laws and rules that we take for granted.

The Secret History of Lead

This immense article is an intricately detailed history of leaded gasoline, from the industry's early cover-ups to their attempts to defeat EPA regulations.

The Removal of Lead From Gasoline: Historical and Personal Reflections

First-person historical analysis of the leaded gasoline fight.

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Resources

Political Economy Research Institute is a think tank focused on a variety of subjects such as diverse financial regulation, living wages and environmental protection.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is the agency that oversees auto and highway safety regulations, auto recalls, and CAFE standards.

Blue Green Alliance is an alliance of labor and environmental organizations.

Green for All is a leading environmental oranization focused on creating green jobs for low-income communities and people of color.

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