EPA On Clean Air Act: 160,000 lives saved last year

Despite the House GOP majority attempting to quash our clean air, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is serious about our right to breathe. Today, the agency released a report that champions the Clean Air Act as a lifesaver, health protector – and economic bolster. The report analyzed effects of the Clean Air Act on the…

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Despite the House GOP majority attempting to quash our clean air, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is serious about our right to breathe. Today, the agency released a report that champions the Clean Air Act as a lifesaver, health protector – and economic bolster. The report analyzed effects of the Clean Air Act on the economy, public health and the environment between 1990 and 2020.

The analysis finds that the benefits of the Clean Air Act will reach an estimated $2 trillion in 2020. In that year alone, 230,000 lives will be saved. The analysis concludes that the direct benefits of this important law significantly exceed costs to industry from installing air pollution controls.

EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said:
 

The Clean Air Act’s decades-long track record of success has helped millions of Americans live healthier, safer and more productive lives. This report outlines the extraordinary health and economic benefits of one of our nation’s most transformative environmental laws and demonstrates the power of bipartisan approaches to protecting the health of the American people from pollution in our environment.

 

Take a look at these stats:

In 2010, the Clean Air Act prevented:

  • 160,000 adult deaths from particle pollution
  • 230 infant deaths from particle pollution 
  • 86,000 emergency room visits 

In 2020, the EPA estimates, the law will prevent:

  • 230,000 adult deaths from particle pollution
  • 280 infant deaths from particle pollution 
  • 120,000 emergency room visits.

 

Raviya was a press secretary at Earthjustice in the Washington, D.C. office from 2008 to 2014, working on issues including federal rulemakings, energy efficiency laws and coal ash pollution.

Earthjustice’s Washington, D.C., office works at the federal level to prevent air and water pollution, combat climate change, and protect natural areas. We also work with communities in the Mid-Atlantic region and elsewhere to address severe local environmental health problems, including exposures to dangerous air contaminants in toxic hot spots, sewage backups and overflows, chemical disasters, and contamination of drinking water. The D.C. office has been in operation since 1978.