Air Quality and the Economy
* Paul King’s letter (Nov. 21) misses the point about Southern California’s air quality program.
Rather than forcing Californians to move away, the program has achieved dramatic improvements in air quality over the past 50 years at the same time the population has tripled and the number of automobiles has more than quadrupled. Without controls, pollution would have tripled instead of being cut by two-thirds from its 1955 level, which already was worse than Mexico City’s pollution today. The area would have become unlivable and the economy stymied.
Today, the program to clean the air continues just as it has for the past 50 years--reducing pollution from each small category of smog-forming emissions as it becomes technologically and economically feasible. The good news is that if the area can keep up this effort for another 10 to 15 years, it will win the war on smog.
JAMES M. LENTS
Executive Officer
AQMD, Diamond Bar
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