Copyright 1999 P.G. Publishing Co.
Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette
December 23, 1999, Thursday, REGION EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL, Pg. A-13
LENGTH: 312 words
HEADLINE: AS
OTHERS SEE IT CLEANING THE AIR
BODY:
An
editorial from
The Washington Post
With time running out, and
with little hope of getting big legislative projects through Congress, President
Clinton is trying to build an environmental legacy. He has already taken steps
to reduce water pollution and to protect federal lands from commercial
development. This week he issued ambitious new rules on air pollution. In so
doing he took on an adversary that some list among the great public menaces of
our times: the sport-utility vehicle. There is no doubt that cleaner air makes
for better health; even the auto makers and oil refiners, who will bear the
brunt of the new regulations, freely concede that. The
question, as with all regulations, is whether the benefits are
big enough to justify the costs. The answer appears to be yes, though
cost-benefit analysis is never an exact science.
The administration
proposes to cleanse air in two ways. First, it demands that better catalytic
converters be fitted to cars and - more notably - to SUVs, light trucks and
mini-vans, which together account for fully half of new vehicle sales. Both the
administration and the car makers say this will raise the cost of the average
car by less than $ 100; trucks and SUVs, which have hitherto been subject to lax
standards, will cost between $ 200 and $ 350 extra. Second, the administration
orders oil refiners to reduce the sulphur content of
gasoline by about 90 percent. It claims this will boost pump
prices by 2 cents per gallon; the refiners say 3 to 5.
Environmental
standards often come at the expense of economic growth: Hard trade-offs must be
made between poverty reduction and the protection of the planet. But in some
instances environmental regulation is a win-win proposition.
Cleaner air appears to be one such case, and the Clinton administration is to be
commended for pushing ahead with it.
LOAD-DATE:
December 23, 1999 
