The US Environmental Protection Agency has been criticized by environmentalists as being too business-friendly, but recent statements from the agency on climate change suggest it's warming up to environmentalist views. The US Climate Change Science Program, a government agency, also seems to feel to speak its mind.
Pew is also as balanced as you'll get on global warming, although at the end of the day they lean more left than right.
Everyone likes clean air, but not everyone agrees on how hard the federal government should push for - or enforce - regulations to keep it clean. Environmentalists, it goes without saying, lean toward strict rules and strict enforcement. Those who argue for laxer rules say a lot can be achieved by giving industry leaders flexibility to clean up their act and incentives to find new innovations. We don't go into the pros and cons of clear air regs here – see our issue guide on the Clear Skies Act – we instead offer a picture of the current state of air pollution, how far we've come in cleaning it up, and where some say we need to go.
Air pollution comes in many varieties: mercury emissions, acid rain, emissions that damage the ozone, and plain old smog. We thought we'd make your – and yes, our - life easier by starting off with the six pollutants the EPA puts at the top of their list.
After the Six Principal Pollutants, we offer more background info on some of the problems they've been known to cause - including smog, acid rain - as well as the basics on the Ozone Layer.
See something to change or add - that would make this page more clear, balanced or fact-based? Click on the edit tab! Please also leave a note in "log message" (at the bottom of the edit page) so we know what changes you made. If they look good, we'll okay them. (For our editing credo, see our style guide.) Thanks!
cJ's Capitol Hill Update
Get the scoop on what Congress is voting on each week!
