Air pollution and preterm births

Alarming story about the links between fine particulate (soot) pollution and premature births, with an estimate of $4.3 billion a year in economic costs. MCEA has been working for years to get appropriate economic values in place to assess the external costs of air pollution, and this is just more evidence that we have been dramatically understating those costs. When we think about the public health benefits of lowering pollution levels, the biggest returns--by far-- come from reducing air pollution levels. Here in Minnesota, the public's (and now the governor's) focus has always been on water quaiity, but the time to invest seriously in bringing down fine particulate and ground-level ozone levels is coming fast. ​