Environmental Politics and Policy by Walter A. Rosenbaum

Author:Walter A. Rosenbaum [Rosenbaum, Walter A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781483304984
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2010-08-04T21:00:00+00:00

Table 6-1 Changes in Air Quality, 1980–2008

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality Trends, available at: http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/aqtrends.html (accessed January 25, 2010).

Notes: “—” indicates trend data not available. PM = particulate matter.

aNegative numbers indicate improvements in air quality.

bPM2.5 air quality based on data since 2000.

cNegative numbers indicate reductions in emissions.

dDirect PM10 emissions for 1980 are based on data since 1985.

Improved air quality, like other environmental gains in recent decades, is fragile and highly vulnerable to technological change, economic cycles, and other social impacts. A case in point is the rapidly growing consumer demand for light trucks, minivans, pickups, and other sports vehicles. The EPA estimates that light trucks will be the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases in the first decade of the twenty-first century, exceeding the combined emissions of all domestic industrial sources. Sport utility vehicles (SUVs), essentially a passenger vehicle mounted on a light truck platform, form the fastest growing segment of the domestic automotive market. But environmentally they have had little to recommend them. SUVs emit 30–70 percent more smog-producing pollutants than standard passenger cars. And they are much less fuel efficient. Nevertheless, consumers have loved them; Americans bought almost 2 million SUVs annually in recent years, accounting for almost 19 percent of annual passenger vehicle sales.11

Equally important, SUVs paralyze the political will. Federal officials, aware of the vehicles’ popularity, have been loath to propose more stringent emission controls for this environmentally hazardous technology. Light truck regulation, especially, has become a “third rail” political issue. “Detroit is giving people what they want,” noted one observer. “Americans—even ones who fancy themselves as environmentalists—have fallen in love with trucks.”12

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