What Has the Clean Air Act Done for Us Lately?
Ask a Scientist - March 2010
L. Lippett from Atlanta, GA, asks "What has the Clean Air Act done for us lately?" and is answered by UCS Executive Director Kathleen Rest, Ph.D.
To my mind, the Clean Air Act is one of the most significant pieces of public health legislation ever enacted in this country. It has a 40-year track record of cutting dangerous pollution to protect public health and the environment and spur innovation. Under the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to regulate any pollutant that the agency determines to "cause, or contribute to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare."
The Clean Air Act has helped:
- cut ground-level ozone, a dangerous component of smog, by more than 25 percent since 1980;
- reduce mercury emissions by 45 percent since 1990;
- reduce the main pollutants that contribute to acid rain—sulfur dioxide by 71 percent and nitrogen dioxide by 46 percent—between 1980 and 2008;
- phase out the production and use of chemicals that contribute to the hole in the ozone layer;
- reduce the lead content in gasoline, which has cut lead air pollution by 92 percent since 1980; and
- prevent more than 400,000 premature deaths and millions of cases of respiratory and cardiovascular disease by lowering permissible levels of particulates and other air pollutants.
The EPA relies on sound scientific analysis to determine what risks a pollutant poses to our health. The science drives the policy—which can then drive technological advancement and economic opportunity.
If a pollutant is scientifically determined to be a danger to public health or welfare, the EPA is legally obligated to monitor and limit it. For years, Clean Air Act regulations have spurred industries to develop and adopt cutting-edge solutions to reduce pollution from power plants, factories, and cars and, in the process, create new jobs and strengthen our economy.
In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court said that global warming emissions are air pollutants, subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act. This obligated the EPA to take action. In 2009, the EPA made a scientific finding that global warming emissions present a danger to public health. Citing extensive scientific research, the EPA found that global warming pollution is connected with:
- hotter, longer heat waves that threaten the health of the sick, poor or elderly;
- increases in ground-level ozone pollution linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses; and
- extreme weather events that leads to deaths, injuries, and stress-related illnesses.
This is exactly how the Clean Air Act should function—when there’s a danger to public health, the EPA’s job is to act on the best available science. Severing the link between science and policy within the Clean Air Act undermines the EPA’s ability to protect public health and puts all of us at risk.
Dr. Rest earned her Doctorate in health policy from Boston University. Before coming to UCS, she worked at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the Centers for Disease Control and she has extensive international experience as a researcher and advisor on occupational and environmental health issues.
