DATE:
May 1, 2003
BACKGROUND: On May 1, 2003, the American Lung Association
will release its annual "State of the Air" report providing
details on air pollution levels across the U.S. The report is
likely to be alarmist.
TEN SECOND RESPONSE: This report is designed to scare
the public and influence policymakers in favor of greater regulations
and spending.
THIRTY SECOND RESPONSE: The American Lung Association
is an advocacy group. Its reports need to be judged with this
fact in mind. For instance, last year's report harshly and one-sidedly
criticized efforts to modify the EPA's "New Source Review"
policies regulating emissions from power plants, calling these
efforts a "rollback" that would "dilute the current
level of protections." However, advocates of the modifications,
which include the EPA itself, believe the changes improve air
pollution protections. Regardless of who is right, the "State
of the Air" report provided only one point of view on the
matter. This unwillingness to present both sides exposes the
report as a political document, not an evenhanded or scientific
analysis.
DISCUSSION: Last year's "State of the Air" report
began as follows:
"More than 142 million Americans
live in areas where the air they breathe puts them at risk. This
finding from the American Lung Association's State of the Air:
2002 report means that 75% of Americans who live in areas with
monitors are breathing in unhealthy amounts of ozone, a powerful
respiratory irritant, which is the primary ingredient in the
smog that regularly blankets many urban areas during the summer
months. A large percentage of those at greatest risk of breathing
problems-children, the elderly, and those with chronic lung disease-are
living in counties with the highest levels of ozone. Concern
for the health of these millions of Americans drives the American
Lung Association to insist that all of the provisions of our
nation's Clean Air Act be enforced-and that none of them be weakened.
Five years ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced
tighter standards for ozone and particulate air pollution, in
order to prevent thousands of premature deaths, tens of thousands
of hospitalizations and other illnesses for respiratory and cardiovascular
causes, and millions of days of missed work and school. And yet
in the past five years these stricter standards have not been
enforced. They have not protected the lungs of a single adult
or child. Even more worrisome are proposals to roll back existing
provisions of the Clean Air Act, which would result in thousands
of extra tons of pollution in the air, risking thousands of lives
as a result."
Apparently noting the American Lung Association's
left-of-center politics, analysts Joel Schwartz of the Reason
Public Policy Institute and Steven Hayward of the Pacific Research
Institute, both based in California, said in an April 30 analysis: "Clearly
'State of the Air' is designed to generate alarming headlines-and
aid fundraising for the American Lung Association-rather than
provide the media and the public with accurate information on
air pollution."
Schwartz and Heyward recommend that,
to help illuminate the ALA's biases, the group be asked four
questions:
1. Is air quality in California, and
the U.S. as a whole, better or worse than it was 10 years ago?
Five years ago?
2. Is every single person in each city
or county with an "F" grade exposed to dangerous levels
of air pollution?
3. Does ALA believe that air that exceeds
EPA's 8-hour ozone standard poses a major health risk?
4. Does the American Lung Association
believe that, notwithstanding the decline in air pollution in
the U.S. and California, air pollution is going to get worse
in the future?
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
American Lung Association at http://www.lungusa.org/
American Lung Association "State
of the Air 2002 Report" at http://www.lungusa.org/air2001/index.html
American Lung Association February 2003
press release attacking administration of George W. Bush at http://www.lungusa.org/press/envir/air_022703.html
"Myths and Facts About New Source
Review Reform," Environmental Protection Agency, at http://www.epa.gov/air/nsr-review/nsrmythfact.pdf
"Four Questions Reporters Should
Ask about the ALA's 'State of the Air' Report," Joel Schwartz
and Steven F. Hayward, Reason Public Policy Institute, April
30, 2003, at http://www.rppi.org/fourquestions.html
"Myths and Facts About the Environment:
Air and Water Quality," The National Center for Public Policy
Research at http://www.nationalcenter.org/EarthDay03Myths.html#D
by Amy Ridenour
President
The National Center for Public Policy Research
Contact the author at: 202-543-4110 or aridenour@nationalcenter.org
The National Center for Public
Policy Research
501 Capitol Court, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20002