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
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

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

January 25, 2011
US Capitol building

Darrel Issa’s Government Handover

January 05, 2011

Cry Wolf Quotes

It would cost us more to produce high octane, unleaded fuel; it would cost the consumer more to buy it; and it would cost the country more in terms of its overall consumption of crude oil.

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Leo McReynolds, research director for Phillips. The Los Angeles Times.

There is no evidence that [leaded gasoline] has introduced a danger in the field of public health…lead is an inevitable element in the surface of the earth, in its vegetation, in its animal life, and that there is no way in which man has ever been able to escape the absorption of lead while living in this planet.

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Robert Kehoe, a scientist “cultivated by industry as the dominant authority on lead”, Clean air act hearings. Environmental Research.

the essential thing necessary to safely handle [tetraethyl lead] was careful discipline of our men…[tetraethyl lead] becomes dangerous due to carelessness of the men in handling it.

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Thomas Midgley Jr. vice president of General Motors. 1920s.

[RGGI is] nothing more than a tax on electricity, a tax on our residents and on businesses with no discernible effect on our environment.

-
Chris Christie (R), governor of New Jersey.

Evidence

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.

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.