I’m not sure I know of anyone who’s in favor of air pollution. Certainly the free-market environmental community has a strong track-record of celebrating improved air quality. What we like to point out, however, is that air quality has been getting better for a long time, certainly predating the Clean Air Act. As Indur Goklany argues in that article, local solutions to local problems are best. That’s conservative, and good for the environment as well.

Meanwhile, there is a great article over at another place on the problem of hybrid vehicles not living up to their hype. The Treasury Secretary has just announced considerable tax breaks for the owners of hybrid vehicles, when, as the article points out, many conventional vehicles of similar size acheive better gas mileage. If this tax break encourages someone to buy, say, a Prius when they would otherwise have bought a Jetta, there’s a good chance of increased emissions as a result. The author, the Detroit News’ Richard Burr, also has another good point: hybrids come with a considerable price premium and so are only affordable if you’re quite well off. This is a tax break for the rich and the liberals applaud it!