Don’t give a hoot, just pollute

Detroit Free Press: Will this country ever be able to make more improvements in air quality?

This month brought another discouraging turn, as a U.S. Court of Appeals panel threw out a new Environmental Protection Agency rule intended to protect states from smog created outside their borders.

The rule resonates particularly in places like western Michigan, where several counties endure bad air as a result of emissions that originate in places like Chicago and Milwaukee. Smog that forms over Lake Michigan sometimes even moves into the central Upper Peninsula — where the air is normally about as clean as anywhere in the U.S.

Despite that, the Michigan attorney general’s office joined those fighting the EPA. The New York Times also quoted U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, whose district lies along the Lake Michigan shoreline, as calling the court decision “a win for American families, who ... faced the threat of higher power bills.”

Yes, continued work toward better air quality has a cost. For the most part it’s worth it. Upton, for example, almost certainly has constituents with asthma who would welcome additional relief. One estimate said the new rule would prevent as many as 34,000 deaths a year, and the EPA estimated 240 million people would see health benefits from improved air quality.