The 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act will save the United States $2 trillion by 2020, says Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson – citing figures from an EPA report which one expert has faulted for “widely exaggerated claims.”
Hundreds of thousands of lives would be saved over the next nine years, thanks to the regulation of air pollutants, Jackson said at the unveiling of a “prevention” campaign at the Health and Human Service Department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.
“Simply put, the Clean Air Act saves lives and strengthens the American workforce,” she said. “As a result, the economic value of clean air far exceeds the costs.
“Expressed in dollar terms, the benefits of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 alone are projected to reach approximately $2 trillion in 2020, with an estimated cost of $65 billion in that same year – a benefit to cost ratio of more than 30 to 1.”
