Did you know that America's

cleaner air has saved more than 2.5 million lives over 20 years? It was

news to me, but it must be true: It's reported on the Environmental

Protection Agency's Web site.

In fact, despite this impressive

statistic being around since 1997, I dare say it's news to most citizens.

Neither the EPA nor others that I'm aware of are trumpeting this

victory.

It's more likely that

Georgians have heard the dire warnings of danger from the "spewing"

of toxins from smokestacks and engine exhausts, and the projected number

of deaths unless said "spewing" stops. Just one example is the

Clean Air Task Force's report in 2000 that claimed, "Nationwide,

power-plant pollution is cutting short the lives of 30,100 Americans each

year."

The implication is that if

Americans would just eliminate electric power plant pollution, a daunting

task, 30,100 lives could be saved each year. But here's the awesome

news from the traditionally pessimistic EPA: 130,000 lives were saved,

on average, every year from 1970 to 1990, for a total of 2.6 million.

The EPA, an agency with the

best data but a poor record of claiming success, cites the salvation of

so many Americans in a publication entitled "The Benefits and Costs

of the Clean Air Act, 1970 to 1990." It was published as a report

to Congress in 1997 (www.epa.gov/air/sect812/).

The agency didn't actually

declare the number of lives saved as 2.6 million, but they could (and

should) have. For some reason, the EPA estimated the number of "deaths

avoided" � in other words, lives saved � each year for 1975, 1980,

1985 and 1990 (see table below). Reaching the total saved over 20 years

from EPA's numbers was a matter of calculating the "deaths avoided"

for the years between, assuming that they changed steadily from one estimate

to the next. I then summed the deaths avoided for the 20-year period.

The EPA calculated lives saved

using levels of particles smaller than 10 micrometers (PM-10) as an indicator

of the "criteria pollutants," particles, ozone, nitrogen oxides

(NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and carbon monoxide. Deaths avoided due to

the other "criteria pollutant," lead, were calculated separately

and added to those deaths due to other pollutants. Only 7 percent of the

lives saved were attributed to decreased lead.

Numerous estimates have been

offered of deaths due to air pollution; most have great uncertainty. Clearly,

the federal agency's evaluation of lives saved in the past ought

to have much more credibility than others' predictions of deaths

from current or future air pollution, because we know full well how much

pollution has decreased in the past.

More importantly, the logical

deduction from the EPA estimate is that even if we accept the Clean Air

Task Force's projection of 30,100 deaths per year caused by power

plant air pollution, and even if we could eliminate all that pollution,

it would take 86 years to save as many lives as have already been saved

from 1970 to 1990. And if we use the 1990 rate for lives saved since then

(the rate likely has increased, because the air has become cleaner), it

would take 166 years to equal the 5 million lives saved from 1970 to 2003.

Knowledge of the environment

is important. The EPA listed as on of its goals in 2000 the "Expansion

of Americans' Right to Know About Their Environment." The purpose

of the goal was to "empower the American public with information,

enabling them to make informed decisions regarding environmental issues

in their communities."

Environmental problems and

failures are not the only events people need to hear about. Better publicity

about the nation's successes would give the public more confidence

in the EPA's ability to solve environmental problems.

Those who deserve recognition

for our cleaner air are myriad: We can thank the EPA, state environmental

agencies, environmentalists and legislators. Thank the automotive engineers

who have reduced car emissions by 90 percent since 1970.

Don't forget the power

companies: Georgia Power's parent, Southern Company, increased power

generation by 30 percent from 1990 to 2002, but the tons of sulfur dioxide

and NOx emitted decreased 39 percent and 31 percent respectively. Closer

to home during that same period, Georgia Power's plants increased

generation 21 percent while SO2 emissions dropped 42 percent and NOx dropped

38 percent.

And next time you hear the

loud grousing about our "polluted" air, consider that it may

simply be rising angst about the shrinking "cause cél�bre"

of air pollution and the growing realization that millions of lives have

been saved.

EPA estimates of deaths avoided

each year due to reduction of air pollution, with the year of estimate

first, followed by the number of deaths avoided that year, are as follows:

1975 � 58,764; 1980 � 145,884; 1985 � 169,642; and 1990 � 183,539.

[University of Georgia Professor

Emeritus R. Harold Brown is an Adjunct Scholar with the Georgia Public

Policy Foundation and author of "The Greening of Georgia: The Improvement

of the Environment in the Twentieth Century." The Georgia Public

Policy Foundation is an independent think tank that proposes practical,

market-oriented approaches to public policy to improve the lives of Georgians.]