The Clean Air Act’s incredible economic benefits

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Cross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Times were great in the 1990s real estate market: If you got in right before the market took off, and cashed out just before it crashed, you could have made a whopping 75 percent return on your money. But ... it was all paper; chances are high the house wasn't 75 percent nicer. And, for most people, returns were lower than 75 percent, some punishingly negative. It all depended on when you bought and sold.

But what if you found out you could get a guaranteed real return over 2,400 percent in one year? And that returns only increased over time and were "bubble proof"? You'd say "there must be a catch," and you'd be right. There are two. First, you can't buy this investment from Wall Street. Second, you have to rely on the good will and decency of your representative -- and these days, that is not reliable.

What's the product? The Clean Air Act.

A new report released yesterday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finds benefits of the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act (CAA) exceeding costs by a ratio of 26 to 1 in 2010, and 30 to 1 in 2020. And the report just looks at health and environmental benefits. As I detail further below, evidence strongly suggests we can expect substantial improvements in economic performance as well.

Yet, in a full-on attack against the EPA, opponents of clean air and public health in Congress are trying to sabotage the CAA and prevent the EPA from doing its job (click here, here, here, and here). It is worse than irresponsible: It is negligent.

First let's start with the end goal, protecting the public.

The extensively peer-reviewed report (click here, here, and here) documents the following health and environmental benefits from the 1990 amendments:

• In 2010 alone, we gained approximately $1.3 trillion in public health and environmental benefits, for a cost of only $50 billion. That's a value worth more than 9 percent of GDP, for a cost of only 0.4 percent of GDP. For comparison, we spent approximately 5 percent of our GDP on the defense budget in 2010.
• The ratio of benefits to costs in 2010 is more than 26 to 1.
• In 2020, we will have a staggering gain of approximately $2 trillion in benefits, at a cost of $65 billion. That's a value worth more than 14 percent of today's GDP, for an expenditure of only 0.46 percent. The ratio of benefits to cost is more than 30 to 1.

more...

http://www.grist.org...m-clean-air-act