Clean Air Evidence

EPA: “Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act: Second Prospective Study—1990-2020”

03/01/2011

Environmental Protection Agency. March 2011.

The results of this analysis of the costs and benefits of the Clean Air Act are stunning. “Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act: Second Prospective Study—1990-2020” claims that by 2020, benefits are estimated to fall in the $2 trillion range, with costs amounting to a mere $65 billion. The vast majority of the benefits will be seen in the lives saved by the law, which amount to an estimated 230,000 prevented early deaths.

Industry Opposition to Government Regulation

10/01/2010

Pew Environmental Group. October 2010.

“Industry Opposition to Government Regulation” provides a nice chart comparing the real price tags of environmental, safety, and health regulations to industry’s original estimation of their costs. Very clear, very succinct.

Air Quality Measures Consistently Cost Less Than Predicted

05/19/2009

Environmental Defense Fund. May 19, 2009.

“Air quality measures consistently cost less than predicted”, clearly shows, in pie graph form, how wildly exaggerated industry predictions of clean air costs are.

There They Go Again: The Sky is Falling Attacks on Healthier Air

01/01/2009

Environmental Defense Fund. 2009.

"There They Go Again: The Sky is Falling Attacks on Healthier Air" showcases industry and media cost and joblessness exaggerations relating to cleaner air policy.

The Going-Out-Of-Business Myth

07/01/2005

OMB Watch. July 2005.

OMB Watch compiled this useful chart of the predicted costs of various federal regulations, including OSHA standards, and the actual costs (“The Going-Out-of-Business Myth”). It includes an “Ex Ante” and an “Ex Post” column. Very good for a quick look at the industry’s history of exaggeration.

Not Too Costly, After All

02/01/2004

Ruth Ruttenberg and Associates, Inc. Public Citizen. February 2004.

“Not Too Costly, After All” shows that regulators regularly overestimate the costs of their own regulations. “Regulatory agencies often overestimate the cost of regulatory compliance, sometimes substantially. There are dozens of examples of costs being inflated and the potential for innovation and productivity-enhancing activities ignored.”

Jobs vs. The Environment: An Industry-Level Study

06/01/2000

Richard D. Morgenstern, William A. Pizer, and Jhih-Shyang Shih. Resources for the Future. June 2000.

“Jobs vs. The Environment: An Industry-Level Study” spotlights four industries that operate under intense environmental regulations: plastics, paper, steel, and petroleum. The authors find that “increased environmental spending generally does not cause a significant change in industry level employment.”

Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act - 1990 to 2010

11/15/1999

Environmental Protection Agency. November 15, 1999.

The EPA’s takes a look ahead from to the “Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act - 1990 to 2010” and finds “that the monetizable benefits [from the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990] alone exceeded the direct compliance costs by four to one.”

Behind the Numbers: Polluted Data

11/01/1997

Eban Goodstein and Hart Hodges. The American Prospect. November 1, 1997.

This impressively comprehensive report, "Behind the Numbers: Polluted Data," exposes the over-exaggerated price estimates of academics, business groups, and even regulatory agencies themselves.

The Economic Impact of Environmental Regulation

01/01/1995

Stephen M. Meyer. Journal of Environmental Law & Practice. 1995.

"The economic impact of environmental regulation" is Meyer’s report on the findings of a study that analyzed the impact of environmental protection laws upon American economic performance. The national Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act are all named, although he uses a state-by-state analysis. The study analyzes job growth and business failure during the period of 1982-1992 (the height of American de-industrialization), and finds that “neither national nor state economic performance have been significantly or systematically affected by environmental regulation”.

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