Pros And Cons Of The Clean Air Act Of 1970

The Clean Air Act of 1970
APU: BUSI 522
Michelle Manning
September 22, 2015 The Clean Air Act of 1970
Introduction
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates air pollution through various policies passed through the Supreme Court. The scope of this paper is to investigate the Clean Air Act of 1970, and to analyze the impact it has on businesses and society. It provides a rationale for the policy, and contains a brief overview of governmental involvement in regulating air pollution. Further investigation identifies key stakeholders in business, government, and society, and assesses the pros and cons of regulating air pollution. Finally, the paper concludes with limitations of this analysis and recommendations for future action.
Residents living closest to manufacturing plants and factories reap the most adverse health affect, however, hazardous air pollutants effect the ozone layer which effects everyone.
Propositions and Oppositions
The propositions and oppositions of regulating air pollution is extensive. Although this paper does not cover every proposition and opposition it will detail four pros and three oppositions, which will provide insight on the concerns of government regulation. Beginning with the propositions, scholars and analysts agree that the CAA has prevented premature deaths and illnesses, has been a good economic investment, has had a positive impact on the economy, and has helped the U.S. become a global leader in clean air technologies (EPA).
First, “the CAA protects the lives of Americans” (EPA). According to an EPA study analyzing health data for the year 2010, the CAA prevented 160,000 premature deaths, 130,000 heart attacks, millions of cases of respiratory cases, such as bronchitis and asthma attacks, and 86,000 hospital admissions. Next, the same study found the CAA prevented adults from missing 13 million days of work, and prevented kids from 3.2 million absences from school. Lastly, the study showed the positive benefits the CAA had on crops and timber
For example, from 1970 to 2011 the U.S. gross domestic product has increased by 212 percent and jobs in the private sector have increased by 88 percent, meanwhile, the overall air pollutants have dropped 68 percent (EPA). Additionally, Economic researchers and scholars report that the funds companies spend to reduce air pollution is reinvested back into the industry to design, build, install, maintain, and operate the processes and equipment to reduce air pollution. It is an industry where jobs may be cut in some sectors and added in others, but the job shift related to air pollution reduction is insignificant when compared to other job shift factors, such as economic growth, technology, and business cycles (EPA).
Fourth, according to a U.S. Department of Commerce Report, the U.S. is the world’s leader in producing and consuming environmental protection technologies. The U.S. has approximately 119,000 companies involved in the environmental technologies and services industry, which is a 782 billion dollar market. According to the EPA, the industry provided U.S. citizens with 1.7 million jobs, generated revenues equal to 300 billion dollars, and exported goods and services equal to 44 billion dollars in