Despite Obama’s ‘Clean Power Plan’, The Environment Is Getting Better, Not Worse
Data from the EPA’s National Emissions Inventory Air Pollutant Emissions Trends Data collected over decades shows a vast improvement in air quality since the 1970s. Measures of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, small particulate matter (PM2.5), volatile organic compounds, and ammonia have all declined over the past decades — and that’s with a growing U.S. population along the way. Additionally, CO2 emissions are at their lowest levels in 20 years in the United States. And according to the Energy Information Administration, the carbon intensity of the U.S. economy has been decreasing steadily since the late 1940s.