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A study of the Sierra snow pack confirmed that more than a third of the air pollution affecting California originates in China

President Trump absolutely right when he says our air is as clean as it ever has been



SMOG CALIFORNIA“One of America's great but untold environmental success stories is that we have made and continue to make great improvements in our air quality, thanks largely to state and federal implementation of the Clean Air Act and innovation in the private sector,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. He added, “The US is a global leader in clean air progress, and we've proven that we can protect the environment while growing our economy.” 1 The EPA announced nationwide concentrations of all measured air pollutants have dropped dramatically. From 1970 and 2017, the combined emissions of six key pollutants dropped by 73 percent, EPA reports. 2
Among the pollutants and air toxins EPA is charged with monitoring and ensuring are reduced to levels safe for human health and the environment, between 1990 and 2018 carbon monoxide declined 73 percent; coarse particulate matter (PM 10) decreased by 26 percent; fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) measured since 2000 dropped by 39 percent; lead, which declined sharply before 1990 when leaded gasoline was banned, was reduced even further, down 82 percent since 2010; nitrogen dioxide levels have declined 57 percent; ozone concentrations have been reduced by 21 percent; and sulfur dioxide in the air has decreased by 89 percent. 1 More from the EPA report:
  • Experience with the Clean Air Act since 1970 has shown that protecting public health and building the economy can go hand in hand. The six common pollutants dropped while the gross domestic product grew by 324 percent.
  • The air quality improvements have enabled many areas of the country to meet national air quality standards set to protect public health and the environment. For example, all of the 41 areas that had unhealthy levels of carbon monoxide in 1991 now have levels that meet the health-based national air quality standard. A key reason is that the motor vehicle fleet is much cleaner because of Clean Air Act emissions standards for new motor vehicles. 2
  • Reducing air pollution also improves crop and timber yields, a benefit worth an estimated $5.5 billion to those industries' welfare in 2010.
President Trump is absolutely right when he says our air is as clean as it ever has been, at least in the industrialized era. To anyone without and ax to grind and the proper skill set to do the analysis, the data speaks for itself. Says Dan Kish, senior fellow at the Institute for Energy Research, “We've fixed the real environmental problems, and our air is cleaner than ever before, even while our economy has boomed. But since it hasn't stopped economic progress, capitalism, or our constitutional republic, many living off gloom and doom are unsatisfied. That's because it's never been about the environment or energy for them. It has always been about political power.” 1 And speaking of gloom and doom, the following two reports echo that sentiment.

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Negative Reports

On June 18, the Associated Press published a story under the byline of Seth Borenstein and Nicky Forster with the troubling headline “US air quality is slipping after years of improvement.” While there are grains of truth in both the headline and the story that follows, there's also a great deal of deception and ignorance in the tale Borenstein and Forster attempt to fashion. 3 The truth is that the changes in air quality cited are statistically insignificant, largely driven by wildfires, and do nothing to contradict claims that America's air is as clean as it has ever been. Reports Richard Trzupek, “There's quite a bit of what appears to be sleight of hand in Borenstein and Forster's story. And, like any good magician, they keep their audience distracted as they pull rabbits out of their hats. The Air Quality Index (AQI) and monitoring data that follows can all be accessed at the EPA website, should readers want to check the data for themselves. Borenstein and Forster's analysis of the data was fatally flawed from the start, likely, I suspect because they followed the unfortunate trend among too many modern journalists of searching for evidence to justify conclusions. Placing such enormous significance on such slight recent variability in AQI is unscientific and unfair.” 3 On October 24, a New York Times headline read, “America's air quality worsens, ending years of gains, study shows,” by Nadja Popivich. Obama cleaned the air and Trump polluted was the claim. Yet, the fuller graph of EPA data broken out by pollutants starting in 2000 rather than the NY Times' 2009 start clearly shows US air is clean and safe. PM2.5 in outdoor air kills no one and causes no other health effects, reports Steve Milloy. 4

Pollution From Asia

The Clean Air Act is also responsible for an approximate 50 percent decrease in smog forming emissions in the US since 2000. Yet in the rural West where most national parks are located ozone levels haven't dropped. That's because these areas are usually higher elevations and closer to the layers in the atmosphere where smog travels over from Asia and there is nothing the Clean Air Act can do to prevent this. 5 In the spring time ozone levels in the national parks rose by 5 to 10 parts per billion (ppb), which is significant given that the federal ozone standard is 70 ppb. 6 A study of the Sierra snow pack confirmed that more than a third of the air pollution affecting California originates in China. 7 Since 1992 Asia has tripled its emissions of smog forming chemicals such as nitrogen oxides. Though China and India are the worst offenders, North and South Korea and Japan also contribute. 8

References

  • Bonner R. Cohen, “Environmental protection agency touts continued air quality progress,” HeartLand, September 2019
  • Progress cleaning the air and improving people's health,” EPA
  • Richard Trzupek, “US air quality isn't slipping: taking a closer look at the data,” Epoch Times, June 27, 2019
  • Steve Milloy, “No...America's air quality is not worsening,” jJunkScience.com, October 24, 2019
  • Smog from Asia causing ozone emissions to rise in US national parks,” SCPR.org March 2, 2017
  • Princeton University, “Asian pollution, heat waves worsen US smog, study shows,” March 1, 2017
  • J. Marteen Troost, Lost on Planet China, (New York, Broadway Books, 2008), 51
  • Doyle Rice, “Air pollution from Asia wafting into the USA,” USA Today, March 3, 2017


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    Jack Dini -- Bio and Archives

    Jack Dini is author of Challenging Environmental Mythology.  He has also written for American Council on Science and Health, Environment & Climate News, and Hawaii Reporter.


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