Rikkelman 1

Collin Rikkelman
Mr. Rogers
U.S. Government; period 3
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Protection from Pollution
Without the economy, the environment would still exist. However, without the
environment, there is no economy. Until recently, the American consensus was that the
environment could be treated poorly, and human health and the economy would be unaffected by
environmental degradation. It was not until the 1960s that studies came out suggesting the
correlation of poor air quality to respiratory issues. Similarly, the value the environment has on
the economy was not realized until the 1990s, when endangered species could no longer provide
services essential to ecotourism, fishing, and hunting. Yet in 2011, America was the second
highest emitter of carbon dioxide (ucsusa.org). If projections for the current rate of global
warming remain consistent, then states like Louisiana could be flooded by 2050. The Protection
from Pollutants Act of 2017, a bill proposing the reduction of harmful pollutants and the
rehabilitation of sites damaged by harmful pollutants, should become a law in order to protect
human health, preserve the environment, and recover the environment.
The Protection from Pollutants Act will protect human health. The Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) filters pollutants to a safe level, so the public can breathe, drink, and
travel without the fear of pollution-- for example, particulate matter with a 2.5 micron diameter
(PM ) is filtered at 12 g/m (epa.gov). However, the World Health Organization suggests PM
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should be filtered at 10 g/m (who.int). Regulations in the United States are lower probably
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because of its reliance on coal; coal emits harmful traces of PM that cause respiratory issues.
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America, as an example and world leader, should meet or exceed the recommendations set by the
organization for healthy standards. The United States even disagreed with lowering carbon
dioxide output by thirty percent at the Bali Climate Change Conference in 2007 (unfccc.int). At
the conference, America was presented with an award for their contribution to poor air quality.
The United States is emitting high levels of loosely regulated, harmful traces of PM , which
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take a toll on the American peoples health. Regulating pollution stricter will contribute to not
only healthier lives, but a healthier environment.
Protection from Pollutants Act will preserve the environment. The National Parks Service
has reported acid rain and ground-level ozone at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park,
which damages plants and degrades high elevation streams and soils (nps.gov). Since 1980, the
Parks Service has reported these issues under the Clean Air Act to see no change, weakening the
Clean Air Acts credibility. Additionally, the ozone is damaging visitors lungs and the acid rain
is polluting the drinking water for people, plants, and animals. While the Great Smoky
Mountains are polluted by air, almost 6,430 streams in the Northern Appalachians are acidic
during spring baseflow due to acid mine drainage (springerlink.com). The acidic water quality
is the result of a poor cleanup policy that would be improved by the Protection from Pollutants
Act. Damage caused by acidic water will continue to hurt native vegetation and animals, and the
water can cause irritation and internal damage if drinken by people. If greenhouse gasses are not
reduced soon, states that lie low on the Gulf of Mexico-- like Louisiana and Florida-- could see
flooding of up to five feet as soon as 2050 (riskfinder.climatecentral.org). If the states flood,
hotspots of biodiversity, like the Everglades, will drown and leave millions of species dead or
without shelter. Not only will it leave countless rare, exotic, and vital species homeless, flooding

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will also displace over a million people in Florida. While the environment can be preserved, the
Protection from Pollutants Act can also rehabilitate it.
The Protection from Pollutants Act will recover the environment. Like the degraded
Great Smoky Mountains and the tainted Appalachian streams, other areas across America have
also been damaged through environmental mishaps. For example, coral reefs, like those in
Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and South Florida, are being damaged by acidic water due to greenhouse
gasses; only with immediate rehabilitation can Hawaiis be saved (epa.gov). Coral reefs in
America demand attention because they generate $100 million in ecotourism annually
(oceanservice.noaa.gov); the ecotourism industry will fall into a catastrophe without the reefs.
Coral reefs also provide vast amounts of biodiversity that support the ecosystem; the loss of coral
reefs will result in the loss of water clarity and the death of native species, which will hurt the
hunting, fishing, and ecotourism industry. Rehabilitations have gone successfully, like those done
to Puerto Rican forests: the results were incredible (sciencedirect.com). Species richness-- the
measure of diversity in an ecosystem-- was considerably greater in rehabilitated areas than
those untouched. In biodiverse regions like Puerto Rico, it is especially relevant to rehabilitate
forests, because they attract ecotourists, maintain the ecosystem, and provide free, natural
services that people and local species depend on. Despite the improvements that rehabilitation
would make to the economy and ecosystem, some remain skeptical.
Critics say that the Protection from Pollutants Act, like the Clean Air Act, will not benefit
the economy and will be costly, and any rehabilitation will cause more harm than good.
However, the Clean Air Act has created longer lives, healthier kids, greater workforce
productivity, and ecosystem protections (whitehouse.gov). The gross domestic product of the
United States has grown by 200% since its enactment in 1970. Because of the benefits it has

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created in a greater workforce production, the Clean Air Act also has a one-to-thirty cost-benefit
ratio. Opponents also neglect that the Clean Air Acts costs, along will most tightened
environmental regulations, are almost always significantly lower than estimates produced by
both industry and the EPA (Roleff 136). The costs are lower because industry finds a cheaper,
cleaner way to manufacture in order to stay in business. Stricter regulations even lead to more
created jobs for pollution control. Undeveloped rehabilitation methods formerly caused damage;
now, new technology has enabled more accurate selective breeding by changing species
behaviors, allowing a safer and more successful rehabilitation (rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org).
Although in the past selective breeding has failed because it has caused excessively dominant
species, rehabilitation experts have created stronger training and hatching programs. More
developed training programs will make a damaged ecosystem rehabilitated, which will provide
free services that would be expensive to manufacture. Therefore, critics have no reason to not
support the Protection from Pollutants Act because its helps the economy and ecosystem alike.
The environment is a delicate ornament that has been mistreated-- it must be protected
from pollutants. It has been littered with trash, poisoned with particulate matter, and soiled with
carbon dioxide; the coral reefs, forests, and streams are dying; the heating, flooding, and
storming is intensifying. Life is becoming more expensive to avoid disaster. As a planet, earth is
struggling; however, as a country, America can improve the situation by passing the Protection
from Pollutants Act of 2017, which will protect human health, preserve the environment, and
recover the environment. Contact a local senator to lobby support before the situation worsens.

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Works Cited
Braithwaite, Victoria, and Anne Salvanes. "Environmental Variability in the Early Rearing
Environment Generates Behaviourally Flexible Cod: Implications for Rehabilitating Wild
Populations." rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org. The Royal Society, 7 June 2005. Web. 17
October 2016.
Climate Central. Surging Seas: Risk Finder: Louisiana. riskfinder.climatecentral.org. Climate
Central, n.d. Web. 8 September 2016.
Herlihy, Alan T., Philip R. Kaufmann, Mark E. Mitch, and Douglas D. Brown. "Regional
Estimates of Acid Mine Drainage Impact on Streams in the Mid-atlantic and Southeastern
United States." springerlink.com. Springer Nature, March 1990. Web. 10 October 2016.
Environmental Protection Agency. Climate Action Benefits: Coral Reefs. epa.gov. EPA, 22
June 2015. Web. 8 September 2016.
Environmental Protection Agency. "NAAQS Table." epa.gov. Environmental Protection Agency,
16 September 2016. Web. 10 October 2016.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Importance of Corals."
oceanservice.noaa.gov. National Ocean Service, 25 March 2008. Web. 10 October 2016.
Parrotta, John. "The Role of Plantation Forests in Rehabilitating Degraded Tropical Ecosystems."
sciencedirect.com. Elsevier, July 1992. Web. 17 October 2016.
Roleff, Tamara L. Pollution: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, 2000. Print.
Union of Concerned Scientists. "Each Country's Share of CO2 Emissions." ucsusa.org. Union of
Concerned Scientists, 18 November 2014. Web. 17 October 2016.
United Nations Framework Convention. "Bali Climate Change Conference - December 2007."
unfccc.int. United Nations, n.d. Web. 10 October 2016.

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United States National Park Service. "Air Quality." nps.gov. U.S. Department of the Interior, n.d.
Web. 10 October 2016.
World Health Organization. "WHO Releases Country Estimates on Air Pollution Exposure and
Health Impact." who.int. World Health Organization, 27 September 2016. Web. 10
October 2016.
Zichal, Heather. "Attacks to the Clean Air Act." whitehouse.gov. The White House, 15
September 2011. Web. 17 October 2016.