This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Clean Air Act – originally authored by Maine Sen. Ed Muskie, and one of the U.S.’s bedrock public health laws. It’s the perfect time to reflect on how far the nation has come and to recommit to the next 50 years to ensure truly clean air for all.
I know the importance of clean, healthy air all too well. Over the last few years, my father has had multiple lengthy stays in the hospital due to complications from end-stage COPD and congestive heart failure.
For my father and others with lung disease, this landmark law has made a significant difference, steadily reducing air pollution in the air we breathe. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated that the law would prevent 230,000 early deaths this year. From 1990 to 2020, the direct benefits were estimated to reach nearly $2 trillion in savings associated with public health benefits from cleaning up pollution. I’ve seen it in my years growing up in Penobscot and living in Kennebec Counties: we have fewer unhealthy air days than we did when I was younger.
Yet despite the significant progress made, nearly half of Americans are still breathing unhealthy air. This is unacceptable, especially for my dad and the 88,146 other Maine residents with COPD, and the 151,625 adults and children in Maine with asthma who are especially at risk of health harms from air pollution. For my own father, the combination of risk factors makes him especially susceptible to experience significant negative health impacts from air pollution. Over the past decade, I have watched COPD impact his life and the adjustments that are needed to ensure that he does not put himself at further risk because of unhealthy air. This has included missing family outings, attending his grandson’s baseball games or just playing outside with them when they visit.
In addition to everyday risks, the COVID-19 pandemic has made lung health and clean air even more important, as emerging evidence shows that long-term exposure to air pollution is related to an 11% increase in the COVID-19 death rate. Furthermore, climate change is posing unprecedented challenges to air quality including rising temperatures and increasing ground-level ozone pollution levels.
Now, the nation has a chance to address climate change and secure clean air for all communities under a new Congress and administration. We need immediate action to protect health at all levels of government, including the Biden Administration and Congress.
The good news is that the Clean Air Act provides strong tools for the new administration to reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution. It requires the federal government to place limits on harmful air pollution, including the greenhouse gases that cause climate change. That’s why it’s so important that the nation’s leaders commit to protecting, implementing and enforcing the Clean Air Act for the next 50 years.
One pitfall the nation must avoid is weakening this landmark law. Right now, some representatives of polluting industries are promoting climate legislation that would weaken the Clean Air Act by stripping EPA’s authority to address climate change. There is no reason why Congress should block or weaken the Clean Air Act, and a bill with this trade-off could do much more harm than good when it comes to cleaning up pollution.
I am so grateful that President-elect Joe Biden has already promised to take strong action on air pollution and climate change. I urge his administration and Congress to commit to climate solutions that keep the Clean Air Act fully intact and provide equitable solutions for all Americans. With strong leadership from the President-elect and the Maine Congressional Delegation, we can continue to build upon the legacy and vision of Senator Edmund Muskie as everyone deserves to be able to breathe safe, clean air.
Lance Boucher is the senior division director for state public policy for the American Lung Association.
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