OPINION/COMMENTARY

The Clean Air Follies Continue

One of these days it would be nice if the Bush Administration finally decided whether it really believes in the power of markets in environmental policy. The EPA has issued several rules over the past couple of years--two of them within the past week--intended to build on the successful "cap-and-trade" philosophy first articulated in the 1990 revisions to the Clean Air Act. The basic idea is that, rather than government mandating pollution-control for every source, it would be better simply to set overall emissions goals and let markets and human ingenuity figure out how to achieve the target. One new rule extends this policy from controlling acid rain to controlling urban smog and cancer-causing particulates. The second new rule targets mercury for the first time. These regulations will no doubt lead to big improvements, just as the 1990 rules did. Sulfur dioxide emissions are down about 40% compared with 1980 levels, and at half the cost of doing so through the command-and-control approach....

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