OPINION/COMMENTARY

Air Pollution Cut in Half, EPA Announces

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has achieved a major milestone in its 34-year battle against air pollution. As Administrator Michael Leavitt announced on September 22, "emissions have been cut by more than half (51 percent) since the Clean Air Act was passed in 1970." Unfortunately, recent polls show the public is unaware that things have improved at all. According to EPA's Clean Air Status Report: Three Decades of Progress, overall emissions of the six principal pollutants regulated under the law are now at less than half their 1970 levels. This includes declines of 53 percent for carbon monoxide, 24 percent for nitrogen oxides, 81 percent for particulate matter (22 percent for ultra-small particles), 49 percent for sulfur dioxide, 54 percent for volatile organic compounds, and 99 percent for lead....