Cities with Less Smog See More Green

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The Carrot and the Stick

According to the EPA, cleaner air will save billions of dollars in health care and welfare costs. Using computer models and emission and cost data, the EPA has estimated that in 2010 the benefits of Clean Air Act programs due to decreased illness and fewer premature deaths will total roughly $110 billion, while the costs of achieving these benefits will be only about $27 billion. In addition, the EPA says by 2010 the amendments of 1990 will have prevented 23,000 premature deaths, 1.7 million incidences of asthma attacks, and 4.1 million lost workdays.

Though it is a federal law, individual states do much of the work to carry out the Clean Air Act. States need to develop state implementation plans (SIPs) that explain how they will meet the standards set by the EPA, and the EPA must in turn approve each state's SIP. If a state fails to submit a plan, they could lose federal highway money, according to the EPA.

States and cities have consequently instituted many programs to meet health-based standards, including programs to cut emissions from vehicles and industrial facilities; programs to reduce pollution by reformulating fuels, paints, and solvents that contain VOCs; and voluntary programs that encourage communities to carpool.

"They're doing it because the Clean Air Act requires it," Nolen says. "We simply have to have air that doesn't make people sick."

California Leads in Reduction Rates

Out of necessity, California has been spearheading the effort to decrease ozone and other air pollution. Due to traffic and a warm and sunny climate that breeds ozone, California cities aren't known for their clean air, but they now lead the nation in smog-reduction rates, thanks largely to regulations on tailpipe emissions. In addition to Orange County and San Diego, the Riverside, Los Angeles, Chico, Santa Barbara, and Ventura metro areas have all seen ozone concentration levels drop more than 25% since 1990. At 0.07 ppm (per eight-hour-period average), the state's ozone standards are tighter than the 0.08 ppm required by the EPA.

"Nine out of 10 Californians breathe polluted air," says Jerry Martin, a spokesperson for the California Environmental Protection Agency's Air Resources Board. "We don't have the luxury of being light on pollution."

By 2024, the CalEPA projects that all of the state will be in compliance with federal ozone standards. But they are working on environmental problems across the board, Martin says. Next up is that "other" ozone problem—global warming.

To see a roundup of America's most cleaned-up metros, click here for the slide show.

Roney is Real Estate writer for BusinessWeek.com.