America's Clean Little Secret
FCAP Executive Summary
Inside the Executive Summary:
* Nationwide NAAQS Compliance for Four Serious Pollutants
* Progress Meeting NAAQS for Ozone and Particulates in Spite of New Tougher Standards
* Spotlighting One Industry’s Clean Air Progress
* Paradox One: Healthier Air AND a Healthy Economy
* Paradox Two: Why Doesn’t the Public Know They’re Breathing Cleaner Air?
* Conclusion
The Clean Air Act, now 34 years old, arguably has been the most successful environmental legislation ever passed by Congress. Year after year since its adoption, America’s air quality has become cleaner and healthier. Ironically, the public seems to have only a limited understanding of this steady progress and continues to believe, wrongly, that air pollution problems in the United States are either increasing or at least not abating.
Originally approved in 1970 and periodically amended over the years, the Clean Air Act directed the newly created Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to identify the most serious pollutants and establish national standards based solely on protecting human health. EPA singled out six pollutants that met this criteria — carbon monoxide, lead, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulates — and after examining epidemiological and other data, set ambitious National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for each.
Because the nation hadn’t yet installed monitors, we’ll never know the true impact our air had on human health in 1970 . . . but based on monitored data collected after significant progress had been made, it’s safe to assume that Americans were then routinely exposed to unhealthy levels of all six pollutants.
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Nationwide NAAQS Compliance for Four Serious Pollutants
Today, America’s air is dramatically cleaner and healthier. The most recent EPA data (collected in 2001-2002) found that:
* Nowhere in the U.S. were unhealthy levels of nitrogen dioxide measured.
* Nowhere in the U.S. were unhealthy levels of sulfur dioxide measured.
* Only 3 of the 3,132 U.S. counties exceeded lead standards (all three have lead smelters).
* Only 3 of the 3,132 U.S. counties exceeded carbon monoxide standards (all were due to localized conditions that are being or have been addressed).
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Progress Meeting NAAQS for Ozone and Particulates in Spite of New Tougher Standards
This study examines the other two criteria pollutants — ozone (smog) and particulates (soot) — in greater depth. While impressive progress has been made in reducing both the number of days these standards are exceeded (“excedances”) and the severity of those exceedances, new, tighter standards were established in 1997. These new NAAQS raised the bar for each pollutant, consequently increasing the number of measured exceedance days.
For many reasons, ozone has been the hardest pollutant to control and, with the new 8-hour NAAQS, will be the hardest to control in the future. But while monitors determined that only 5% of the population breathed air that met the previously set 1-hour NAAQS in 1980, more than 70% do today. And in those “nonattainment areas,” the number of hours of exceedance has dropped by 75-80% for the 1-hour standard (55-60% for the 8-hour standard) since 1980. Stated differently, the average nonattainment area exceeds the 1-hour health standard for 8 of the 8,760 hours in a year (and 58 hours a year for the 8-hour standard). Finally, the severity of exceedances has been reduced by 70-75% for the 1-hour standard (and by 70% for the 8-hour standard) since 1980.
Because good data on PM-10 and PM-2.5 (the two NAAQS for particulates) only became available in 1990 and 1999, respectively, long-term progress in reducing particulates (particularly PM-2.5) is impossible to assess. Nevertheless, in nonattainment areas, 70% and 30-40% fewer Americans today are exposed to unhealthy annual levels of the respective annual and daily NAAQS for PM-10 than were exposed in 1990.
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Spotlighting One Industry’s Clean Air Progress
The study also examines one industry — electricity generation — in detail, tracing that industry’s progress in reducing emissions and analyzing additional measures that will build on that progress. In addition, the study determines where emission levels would be today if that industry had not invested in environmental improvements since 1985 (a time when the nation experienced a 56% growth in electricity demand). Today’s NOx and SO2 emissions are 48% and 55% lower than levels we would have experienced with no action. And future progress will be even brighter, as respective 2015 emissions of NOx and SO2 will be 80% and 88% below the “no action” levels.
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Paradox One: Healthier Air AND a Healthy Economy
Americans are breathing healthier air despite a dramatic rise in the economic and demographic factors that are normally associated with increased pollution. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency1, since 1970:
* Nitrogen oxide emissions have declined by 17%,
* Sulfur dioxide emissions have declined by 49%,
* Lead emissions have declined by 98%,
* Carbon monoxide emissions have declined by 41%
* Volatile organic compounds (which are precursors to ozone) have declined by 48%, and
* Particulate emissions from combustion declined by 82%
and yet
1. U.S. population grew by 42%, to 291 million,2
2. Overall energy consumption grew by 43%, to 97.351 trillion btu.3
3. Total U.S. employment grew by 95%, to 138 million.4
4. The number of registered vehicles grew by 111%, to 235 million5
5. Annual Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) grew by 151%, to 2.8 trillion miles,6 and
6. “Real” Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 175%, to $10.381 trillion.7
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Paradox Two: Why Doesn’t the Public Know They’re Breathing Cleaner Air?
This does not imply that the nation has reached the finish line, either in making improvements or in educating the public about the cleaner air they’re breathing. There are still portions of the U.S. that continue to experience NAAQS violations and efforts to bring these areas into compliance will continue. Unfortunately, the demonstrated progress we have made to date is in stark contrast to public perceptions about the air they breathe. In tandem with this study of EPA data, FCAP commissioned a current poll of public opinion. Conducted by Wirthlin Worldwide from August 20-23, 2004, the survey found that only 29% of all American adults believe that air quality in the U.S. has improved and only 28% believe it will improve in the future!
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Conclusion
Policymakers and the public need to recognize the significance of these dual paradoxes, that:
1. A healthy economy, robust growth, and cleaner air aren’t mutually exclusive, and
2. Americans aren’t aware of the demonstrable improvements the nation has made in improving the health of the air we breathe.
The nation should be proud that it has made historic strides in improving its air quality without sacrificing jobs, productivity, and economic development.
A complete copy of this report can be found by clicking here.
1 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
2 U.S. Department of Commerce; Census Bureau
3 U.S. Department of Energy; Energy Information Agency
4 U.S. Department of Labor; Bureau of Labor Statistics
5 U.S. Department of Transportation; Bureau of Transportation Statistics
6 Ibid.
7 U.S. Department of Commerce; Bureau of Economic Analysis |
