Today’s post is co-authored with Reed Walker.
The benefits of additional air pollution regulation exceed the costs to industry by ten to one on average, according to a new analysis.
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the 1970 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA), the most dramatic expansion of air quality regulation in US history.
Since the 1970 CAAA, ambient concentrations of many targeted air pollutants have fallen by more than 90 percent. These decreases in pollution have improved health and welfare, including preventing hundreds of thousands of premature deaths.
The costs of cleaning up pollution, however, generally become more expensive with each additional unit of pollution reduction. Given past progress, it is natural to ask, have regulations pushed too far or not far enough?