The True Cost of Dismantling the Clean Air Act

The Death Toll

The EPA's comprehensive study found that the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 prevented over 230,000 premature deaths annually.¹

Removing these protections would reverse these gains, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths.

The same study found that the Clean Air Act prevented 17 million lost workdays and 5.4 million lost school days due to respiratory illnesses.²

Eliminating these protections would mean millions more Americans missing work and school.

Economic Impacts

Research consistently shows the economic benefits of clean air: According to the EPA's Second Prospective Report, the benefits of the Clean Air Act exceed costs by a factor of more than 30 to 1, with high-end estimates showing benefits exceeding costs by 90 times. ³

Between 1970 and 2020, emissions of six common pollutants dropped by 78% while U.S. economic indicators remained strong, demonstrating that environmental protection and economic growth coexist. ⁴

The economic costs of increased healthcare spending would be immense. Fine particles from pollution enter deep into the lungs and bloodstream, while ground-level ozone irritates airways, leading to health impacts ranging from asthma attacks to hospital admissions and heart attacks. ⁵

The resulting medical expenses would place enormous strain on a fragile healthcare system that is under attack.

Employment Effects

Environmental regulations have minimal negative impact on employment: A peer-reviewed study by economists at Resources for the Future examined environmental compliance costs in four regulated industries and found that increased environmental spending generally does not cause a significant change in employment. ⁶

The Harms of Dismantling Environmental Protections

• Environmental technology and services sector: Studies dating back to the late 1990s have disputed claims that environmental regulations harm the economy, finding that assertions about negative economic impacts "do not stand up to a careful examination of the facts."⁷
• Public health sector: The enforcement of environmental laws prevents deaths and illnesses. Just the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act prevents hundreds of thousands of premature deaths from particulate pollution, along with 1.7 million asthma attacks annually, 3.2 million lost school days, and 54,000 cases of bronchitis. ⁸
• Renewable energy industry: The shift toward cleaner energy sources has created significant job growth in solar, wind, and other renewable sectors.
• Electric vehicle manufacturing: Recent EPA proposals would roll back emissions limits for vehicles, impacting the transition to electric vehicles. ⁹
• Communities disproportionately affected by pollution: Critics, including former EPA officials and environmental health experts, warn that weakening environmental protections will "disproportionately harm Black and Latino communities who already bear the brunt of industrial pollution."¹⁰
• Clean water technology and water treatment industries: Recent EPA announcements indicate plans to roll back rules safeguarding waterways from harmful pollution. ¹¹
• Scientific research sector: Legislation would prohibit the EPA from using assessments from its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program in environmental regulations, impacting organizations focused on environmental health research. ¹²
• Utilities industry: Some utility companies have raised concerns about eliminating environmental protections, stating that allowing the EPA to regulate climate pollution creates an orderly system for cutting emissions while minimizing economic impacts. ¹³

Dismantling the Clean Air Act would result in:

• Hundreds of thousands of deaths
• Millions of additional lost workdays and school days
• Billions in additional healthcare costs

References

1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "The Clean Air Act and the Economy." EPA.gov, June 26, 2015. https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/clean-air-act-and-economy
2. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "The Clean Air Act and the Economy." EPA.gov, June 26, 2015. https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/clean-air-act-and-economy
3. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act 1990-2020, the Second Prospective Study." EPA.gov, May 15, 2024. https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/benefits-and-costs-clean-air-act-1990-2020-second-prospective-study
4. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "Progress Cleaning the Air and Improving People's Health." EPA.gov, June 8, 2015. https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/progress-cleaning-air-and-improving-peoples-health
5. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "How BenMAP-CE Estimates the Health and Economic Effects of Air Pollution." EPA.gov, June 28, 2024. https://www.epa.gov/benmap/how-benmap-ce-estimates-health-and-economic-effects-air-pollution
6. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "The Clean Air Act and the Economy." EPA.gov, June 26, 2015. https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/clean-air-act-and-economy
7. Environmental Protection Agency. "Environmental Protection: Is It Bad for the Economy? A Non-technical Summary of the Literature." EPA.gov, January 29, 2025. https://www.epa.gov/environmental-economics/environmental-protection-it-bad-economy-non-technical-summary-literature
8. Environmental Integrity Project. "Environmental Integrity Fact vs. Fiction: EPA." Environmentalintegrity.org, 2025. https://environmentalintegrity.org/trump-watch-epa/fact-vs-fiction-epa/
9. PBS News. "Trump's EPA announces aggressive rollback of environmental protections." PBS.org, March 13, 2025. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/trumps-epa-announces-aggressive-rollback-of-environmental-protections
10. Environmental Health News. "Dismantling of environmental justice protections at EPA leaves vulnerable communities reeling." EHN.org, April 2025. https://www.ehn.org/dismantling-of-environmental-justice-protections-at-epa-leaves-vulnerable-communities-reeling
11. The Washington Post. "EPA moves to dismantle dozens of Biden's environmental rules." Washingtonpost.com, March 12, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/03/12/epa-waters-of-united-states-wotus/
12. ProPublica. "Industry-Backed Legislation Would Bar the Use of Science Behind Hundreds of Environmental Protections." Propublica.org, March 6, 2025. https://www.propublica.org/article/legislation-targets-epa-science-toxic-chemicals
13. NPR. "EPA announces dozens of environmental regulations it plans to target." NPR.org, March 12, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/03/12/nx-s1-5326354/trump-epa-environmental-rules-rollback-deregulation