...From 1970 to 2017, the aggregate U.S. emissions of the six primary pollutants — nitric oxide, ozone, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and lead — have declined by 73 percent. Ambient concentrations of these harmful pollutants have declined an average of 64 percent since 1990. Since 1970, real GDP increased almost 400 percent.
Each year, most of the country has fewer days with “hazardous air” and, in many places, it is now zero. Fifty years ago, many of America’s rivers and waterways were unsafe to swim in or to consume the fish from — including the Potomac. That has all changed; most rivers have been cleaned up, and seafood from the nation’s waterways is normally safe to eat, not the other way around. The Untied States has made much greater progress than Europe and most of Asia in cleaning up air and water — despite having engaged is less micro-management insisting on un-economic solar or wind farms, etc.
Entrepreneurs in much of the country were left free to experiment with fracking in order to greatly increase the supply of low-pollution natural gas. The result is that both the emissions from the production of electric power and prices fell, and now the U.S. produces more oil and gas than any country in the world. Two decades ago, most of political establishment would have said that is “impossible” — because they never did and still don’t — to understand the power of free markets.
At no time in history, and in any other country, have more people breathed cleaner air and had high-quality clean water at very low cost available to them....
...Play a mind game for a minute. Assume that the federal government decided not to allocate any money at all to “cure global warming.” State and local governments could still spend money on it, as well as businesses and other private sector institutions, and of course individuals. What would happen? Low-cost solutions would be sought for very specific identifiable problems....
...Multi-trillion-dollar government schemes to fight climate change are nothing more than con-jobs for those seeking power. Lower-cost micro solutions developed by the private sector can deal with most problems far better than the political class, including those issues around climate.