I must tell you that we have heard much of this before in less sophisticated form. We heard it in 1970 and again in 1977. We heard it repeatedly in the 1980s. It is the same message today and it boils down to this: Impose the cost of pollution on people who breathe, so the people who pollute can avoid the cost of control. I think that is backwards. What must life be like for that asthmatic child when the very air can make her a shut-in and even threaten her life? What does it cost the rest of us to turn our backs on that child when the solution to her problem is known?

Former U.S. Senator Edmund S. Muskie
November 14, 1995

In recent years, awareness of the health impacts of air pollution has increased greatly; we now know it to be far more serious than was generally understood just a few years ago. During preparation of this paper, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also came to this conclusion, proposing on November 27, 1996 regulations that would significantly lower permitted levels of air pollution. If adopted, the regulations will have enormous consequences for industry, which will need to invest billions of dollars to find ways to meet the standards. Clean renewable energy technologies can help resolve our air quality problems, but have so far received inadequate attention from policymakers. This paper identifies common air pollutants, summarizes their effects on human health, and briefly identifies technological advances that could reduce and, in some cases, eliminate air pollution.

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