Wednesday, May 13, 2009

George W. Bush, the Environmental President

The Left has been talk-pointing for years that the air is getting worse and worse, the sky is falling, and it's all George Bush's fault. But this is another thing they know that just isn't so.

From the annual Index of Leading Environmental Indicators (pdf), Steven Hayward:

The latest findings are significant because they stand in sharp contrast to a refrain among some environmental campaigners and the media that air pollution is getting worse, and to the assertion that the Bush administration was “rolling back” the Clean Air Act. Final data for 2008 won’t be available for several months, but the EPA’s latest report shows that air pollution levels in every category fell from 2001 to 2007; moreover, air pollution levels in most categories fell at a faster rate than during the first seven years of the Clinton Administration.

Table 1 below displays the reduction in national mean ambient levels of the six criteria pollutants for comparable periods of the Clinton and Bush administrations.

Table 1: Ambient Air Quality Trends under Presidents Clinton and G. W. Bush



Clinton (1993–1999)Bush (2001–2007)

Ozone
–5.14% –5.9%

Particulates (PM2.5)
N/A* –9.1%

Carbon Monoxide
–24.6% –39%

Sulfur Dioxide
–32.0%–24%

Lead
–33.0% –56%

Nitrogen Dioxide
–9.6% –20%


*National PM2.5 emissions monitoring began in 199.
Source: EPA and author’s calculations


OBTW -- w/t NRO


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