Jon Utley on How Raising EPA Limits Will Save Thousands of Lives and Billions of Dollars
Radiation limits were far lower than science justified and caused hundreds of billions of dollars of economic loss to America and the world.
The EPA is raising the radiation threat level by a factor of 350. That may sound unbelievable but it is assuredly a good thing: The previous limits were far lower than science justified and caused hundreds of billions of dollars of economic loss to America and the world, according to Jon Utley.
The trigger for the change was the government recognizing the ramifications of two things. The first is the reality of nuclear terrorism. The Government Accounting Office (GAO) has recently insisted that the EPA establish realistic limits in accordance with the latest science. Under the old limits, a tiny "dirty bomb" explosion in an American city would have meant evacuating hundreds of thousands of people.
The yearly cost of unnecessary EPA regulations is in the many hundreds of billions of dollars, reducing wages and hurting the world's standard of living, writes Utley. Fortunately, the EPA is making changes that acknowledge the shortcomings of ultra-low radiation limits.