Hard Choice Faces Many Communities

Most states today are ill equipped to monitor the thousands of air-pollution sources within their borders. And, because corrective measures can be tremendously expensive, years may pass before a factory stops spouting black smoke. If a plant has polluted the air for fifty years, and is operating on a close budget—can we, in good conscience, make demands that will drive it into bankruptcy? On the other hand, can we afford to risk our health by continuing to breathe the smoke?

Valley towns, especially, can be smog traps, Missoula, Montana, is such a town. When a layer of stable lifeless air hovers overhead, it holds industrial haze and dust in the valley and gives Missoula an air-pollution intensity that rivals New York City's.

And, of course, there is Los Angeles. "Smog City, U.S.A.," some call it. But the Angelenos have tackled their problem head on. Air-pollution regulations there are broader than those the Federal Government has formulated, and the regulations grow tougher year by year. Still, new residents pour into the city, bringing their automobiles. Los Angeles, like the Ruhr, is just managing to keep its smog density from rising.…

Killer Fogs Led to London's Air Cleanup

Twenty years ago London could have claimed the title "Smog City, Europe." Three-fourths of its smoke is gone now—a remarkable change triggered by a series of killer fogs in the late 1940's and early 1950's.

The worst of these settled over London on December 5, 1952. For four consecutive days the city's normal daily death rate of 300 more than tripled; in all, some 4,000 extra deaths that winter were blamed on the incident. More such fogs came in the winters that followed. Each took its toll.

In 1956 Parliament passed the Clean Air Act, decreeing that factories and homes in critical areas of the city must switch from soft high-sulphur coal to less smoky fuels: hard coal, gas, electricity, or oil. Inevitably there were economic repercussions, both to householders and to industries. But, with each passing year, London's air grew clearer.…

London has proved that the veil of smog can be cast off, but its success story stands almost alone. In sunny Spain, Madrid has joined the ranks of shrouded cities. In Italy, acid from smog cuts into centuries-old sculpture. And each rain here in Washington washes more acid onto our marble buildings and monuments.

The massive struggle to clean our air began so recently that victory seems far off. But we have taken an important step—we realize we must do something. In the frequently quoted words of Pogo, Walt Kelly's cartoon possum, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

One by one, the factory smokestacks stop gushing noxious smoke and gases—for it is easier to regulate one factory than it is to depollute ten thousand automobiles. But here in the United States, motor vehicles contribute nearly half our air pollution. A hundred and nine million exhausts spout carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, lead, and a variety of hydrocarbons.

Tetraethyl lead, an additive to most gasolines, is an acknowledged poison, although experts disagree on the long-term effects of small amounts of lead in the human body. Primitive man carried about two milligrams of lead in his bones. Today's city dweller carries 50 to 100 times that amount—up to one-third of what many doctors consider dangerous.

While legislators frame stringent new laws, manufacturers redouble their efforts to develop more efficient emission-control devices and less harmful fuels.

What else can be done to reduce automobile pollution? Increased use of car pools and mass transit would help, say environmentalists. So, perhaps, would engines of more modest horsepower. Others feel such talk is defeatist, except as a short-term measure, and look to new technological advances for the answer.

Gasoline isn't the only fuel available. In San Francisco, I rode in an unusual car. Its engine burned propane, which gives off few pollutants. At least thirty colleges and a number of industrial firms are trying to develop low-pollution engines powered by steam, electricity, or natural gas.…